Kidnapping Erza
by CrimsonStarbird
Summary: After inclement weather causes Erza and the others to cancel their trip to Akane Resort, thus ruining Jellal's plan to have her captured and brought to the Tower of Heaven, he is forced to take matters into his own hands. Needless to say, things don't quite go to plan. They never do when Fairy Tail is involved. COMPLETE.
1. Thirty Days

**Kidnapping Erza**

By CrimsonStarbird

* * *

 **Chapter One: Thirty Days**

"This is, without a doubt, the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard," Jellal declared. "Are you seriously trying to threaten _me?_ "

"It sure looks that way," came Natsu's cool response. "It doesn't seem to me like you're in the strongest position right now, Mister Councillor."

Jellal levelled a glare at the arrogant brat. That was a look that had been known to silence pompous members of the Magic Council and fearsome dark mages alike, and yet it didn't make the slightest dent in Natsu's smug attitude. Threatening glares tended to be a lot less effective when the man employing them was tied to a chair.

He was Jellal. He was one of the most infamous and dangerous dark mages in existence. He was the Master of the Tower of Heaven; the leader of a sinister cult that had not only evaded capture by the authorities for the past eight years, but had managed to construct a device capable of bringing about the end of the world while they were at it. Right now, he was _this_ close to being able to unleash an apocalypse of death and ruin upon the entire world.

As his alter ego, his fictitious twin brother Siegrain, he had become a member of the Magic Council, thus making him one of the ten most influential people in the magical community, despite being only nineteen years of age. He was also a Wizard Saint, a rank that attested to his incredible power and his unrivalled knowledge of magic. Those fools on the Council depended on him and trusted his judgement on all matters of magic, blissfully unaware that they were playing right into his hands. Not one of them suspected that the respected, powerful Councillor Siegrain, and his younger twin brother, the notorious dark mage Jellal, were one and the same.

He was the master of this game of deception. In fact, at this moment in time, he was quite possibly the most dangerous man in the world.

And he was currently tied to a chair, surrounded by one hundred angry Fairy Tail mages.

How on earth had _he,_ of all people, ended up in this position?

"Don't think you're going to get away with this," he snarled.

"That's our line," Lucy returned. She folded her arms, standing in firm solidarity at Natsu's side.

"I'll have you know, I am a member of the Magic Council, and-"

"You could be Zeref himself for all we care," Gray interjected bluntly. "A pervert's a pervert, and deserves to be treated as such, no matter where he might stand in society."

Jellal narrowed his eyes. "Well, you're about the last person I want to hear that from."

"What the hell are you insinuating?"

Most of the assembled members of Fairy Tail just rolled their eyes at that. "Gray, clothes," Lucy reminded him, and the ice mage momentarily vanished as he rummaged around under the table in search of his missing trousers.

"The real question," Mira spoke up, with a gentle smile that didn't quite match the sinister undertone of her words, "Is what we're going to do with him now that we've caught him."

"We could always turn him in to the authorities," Lucy suggested. "That would be the sensible thing to do."

Many of the guild mages – infamous for their slightly dubious relationship with said authorities – might have had something to say about that, but, and perhaps surprisingly, it was Levy who got there first. There was a dark gleam in the girl's eyes, and Jellal did not like the look of the way she was holding a spare bit of rope taut between her hands.

"And what would that achieve?" she demanded. "They don't care about things like this! Besides, as he keeps reminding us, he's a member of the Magic Council – he _is_ the authorities. Worst they'll do is give him a slap on the wrist and let him carry on. And it's because convictions are meaningless that no one persecutes cases like this, and that's why guys like him think it's perfectly okay to act like they do. If we want justice, we'll have to do it ourselves. I think we should take this to the media."

"It'll be the last thing you ever do," Jellal vowed.

"He does have a point." Having successfully retrieved his trousers, a still-topless Gray had returned to the circle of Fairy Tail mages, and he proceeded to talk as if the captured councillor couldn't hear him. "If we play all our cards too soon, we'll have nothing left to defend ourselves with." He cracked his knuckles; he and Natsu exchanged grins. "I say we teach him a lesson with our fists."

"Do it and you die," Jellal warned him, but as he was very rapidly learning, it was difficult for even a Wizard Saint to come across as threatening when his hands were bound behind his back.

Lucy placed one hand on Gray's shoulder, and another on Natsu's. "Steady on. Attacking a member of the Magic Council is a bit far, even for you two."

"Says the person who tied him up in the first place," Gray shot back.

"Shush!" Lucy hissed; an attempt to conceal his incriminating statement which was undermined somewhat by the attention drawn by her rapidly flailing arms. "I told you not to mention that in front of him!"

Jellal almost laughed. It was quaint how she thought he cared about precisely who was responsible for his situation. He was going to make each and every one of these Fairy Tail mages pay for this. Forget about waiting to activate the Tower of Heaven; he would use his influence as a councillor to get the guild shut down this very day-

"Maybe we should let Erza decide what to do with him, when she gets back to the guild," Mira suggested. "It was her room you caught him in, after all, Lucy."

"I suppose we should at least consult her first," Lucy mused. "After all, if she doesn't want to press charges, there's not really anything we can do."

A murmur of agreement ran around the entire circle of mages. Levy grumbled something unintelligible, and although she didn't openly object, it was clear from the way she was still glaring at their prisoner that no peaceful settlement would satisfy her. Gray seemed disappointed he wasn't going to get to beat anyone up. Jellal glowered at all of them, seething with anger. The only thing that could possibly have made this situation any worse for him was throwing Erza into the mix. He had enough to deal with without having to put on an act in front of her as well.

As if on cue, the doors to the guildhall swung open and two figures strode into the main hall. Resplendent as always in her armour, with her scarlet hair swaying back and forth with every step, Erza was deep in animated conversation with the short, elderly man at her side. "I just think that moving the S-Class Quest board down to alongside the normal one would make a powerful statement, especially since Laxus is absent from the guild almost as much as Mystogan is these days. Now that we've finally finished building the new guildhall, we have the perfect opportunity to…"

Her voice faded to nothing as she noticed the scene that the two of them had burst into. For the first time in as long as she – or anyone else in the guild, for that matter – could remember, the hall was utterly silent. Most of the long tables that normally lined the main hall had been dragged off to the sides, in order to make space for the impromptu interrogation that was taking place in the centre. Each and every member of Fairy Tail was standing as both guard and juror, encircling the trussed-up Jellal. Many of the mages were holding weapons, ranging from table legs and bits of rope to genuine swords and magical staves, in a way that was undoubtedly meant to be intimidating. Even for Fairy Tail, the situation was abnormal – and that was saying something.

"Finally," Jellal growled, glaring at Makarov. "Someone with some common sense has arrived."

Makarov, who frequently had to deal with the Council in his capacity as Guild Master, likely had more political acumen than his audacious young mages. With any luck, he would see how utterly ludicrous it was to treat a member of the Magic Council like this, and force the guild to let him go.

Indeed, upon laying eyes on the situation, Makarov's face turned ghostly pale. "What on earth do those brats think they're doing?" he grumbled to himself. "Probably best not to get involved…"

It was with a casual smoothness that he made an easy about-turn and began sidling back towards safety. He might have made it, were it not for Mira, who had somehow crossed the room in a flash and placed herself between the old man and the exit. "Going somewhere, Master?" she asked, with a sweet smile and a promise of danger.

He shrunk away from her. "N-no, I was just…" Then he heaved a sigh, and approached the gathering in the centre of the room as though he were walking to the gallows. "Just another ordinary day in Fairy Tail," he muttered to himself. "Alright, alright. Someone tell me why there's a member of the Magic Council tied up in the middle of my guildhall – and it'd better be good."

* * *

Everything had been going so well.

And that, Jellal reflected, had been the problem.

He had embarked upon an eight-year-long scheme where a single error of judgement or slip of the tongue could spell his doom, and he had actually pulled it off. He had unlocked the secrets of that ancient, forbidden magic; the R-System. He had become one of the most powerful mages in the kingdom. He held the Council in the palm of his hand. It wasn't as if there hadn't been problems along the way – only that he had been able to overcome them, and become stronger, more capable, more experienced, and more confident for it. He had taken a plan so outrageous in detail, so far-reaching in scope, and he had made it work perfectly.

In fact, if a plan could be "too perfect", then that was what his was.

Now that the Tower of Heaven was complete, all he needed to finish his plan was to acquire the woman he had chosen to be his sacrifice, Erza Scarlet. The problem lay in how he was going to get her out of her guild and into the Tower of Heaven.

Kidnapping Erza while she was out on a long job alone as a Fairy Tail mage would have been a piece of cake for someone as powerful as him, of course, but that wasn't the point. Achieving something so incredible as to convince the Magic Council that his evil twin was the one behind the plot to destroy the world had given him a taste for the dramatic. Merely overpowering Erza wasn't a satisfying culmination to his eight-year endeavour. For one thing, it would be much more poetic if he could get his underlings – Erza's former friends – to be the ones to capture her. There was a wonderful irony in that. Such a tragic reunion would be an excellent warm-up before he broke her spirit completely.

And so he had devised a plan.

The preparations had begun months in advance. First, his evil scheme had required him to investigate all the coastal resorts on the stretch of the mainland closest to the Tower of Heaven in order to find an appropriate spot to lay his trap. After several weeks of compulsory holidays, he and the others had finally settled on the perfect location: Akane Resort. Then his underlings had needed to work their way into the required positions.

Sho had started an apprenticeship as a gaming dealer. His natural dexterity and skill with the cards, a result of training with his magic, had caught the eye of his boss just as planned, and he had quickly been promoted to work on the main floor of the resort's pride and joy, the casino.

It had been easy for Simon to land himself a role as a security guard, given his imposing stature, and a month of offering to take the unpopular night shifts had given him unrestricted access to the resort's security systems and lacrima surveillance network.

Concierge host had been an excellent choice for Wally, whose smart appearance quickly endeared him to the wealthy patrons. It wasn't long before he had memorized the schedules and habits of all the resort's senior figures.

Millianna had found employment in the harbour rather than the resort itself, where she had befriended the sailors and fishermen and become such a regular sight around the shoreline that if she wanted her boat moored up on _this_ particular isolated jetty on _that_ exact day, not only would they have been more than happy to oblige her, but they wouldn't have questioned it for a moment.

And all the while, Jellal himself had been steadily building up influence around the Council as his alter ego Siegrain, as well as putting the finishing touches to the beautiful fractal structure of the Tower of Heaven – ready for the day that the world would be his to end.

A few days ago, the Tower had finally reached completion. His master plan entered its final stage.

As a powerful councillor, it was a trivial matter for him to utilize the Council's information network to observe Fairy Tail. He noted the Balsam Village incident and the return of the Lion Spirit to his rightful place amongst the Zodiac with interest – that, he decided, would be his way in. Erza wouldn't suspect a thing.

It had been so simple. Subliminal advertising to encourage Loke to stop by the Summer Faire on his way to Fairy Tail the following day. Bribing the man at the tombola stand so that Loke would win the top prize: four tickets to Akane Resort. There was no doubt that the Spirit would give them to his friends, including Erza, as thanks for helping him out… and then Erza would fall right into his hands.

The following day had been one of near-unbearable excitement. Everything had been perfect, from the electric tension of the world's final morning to the suitably apocalyptic storm raging outside the walls of the Tower. Unable to contain his anticipation, Jellal had paced up and down the room at the top of the Tower of Heaven, laughing gleefully to himself while the storm of his fury lashed against the sides of the Tower and lightning danced freely through the clouds.

He re-read the Council protocol for firing Etherion for the thousandth time, ensuring that he had not missed some technicality that would prevent the other councillors from voting to use the weapon of mass destruction on the Tower of Heaven. He checked and double-checked the calculations that would exactly neutralize that Etherion blast and contain all its energy. He ran his hands over the carvings on the walls and bathed in the unhallowed magic of the R-System, certain that the structure was working exactly as had been written in those blasphemous texts; ready to seize that energy and use it to wrench open the door between life and death, and return the dreaded Black Mage to his rightful place as ruler of the world of devastation.

All this waiting was _so_ going to be worth it.

Then, right on time, Millianna's boat had appeared on the horizon. To his eager mind it had seemed to take an age for it to crawl across the sea to the Tower, but eventually it had disappeared from view as it moored down below, and moments later he had sensed their arrival in the building. Only, rather than taking Erza straight down to the dungeons in accordance with their plan, they had headed upwards instead, to where he waited to end the world.

And all four of them had arrived in the room at the top of the Tower.

Without Erza.

"What do you _mean_ she didn't show up?" Jellal shouted.

Sho gave a shrug. "Well, can you blame her? Who in their right mind would go to a seaside resort with the weather like it was today? Today's attendance was at a record low for August. If this keeps up, our – I mean, the resort's – income is really going to take a hit."

"But- the plan!" Jellal cursed. "It was _perfect!_ "

"Not even you can plan for the weather," Simon said, as if to reassure him. "These things happen."

Jellal gave a soft snarl. "Eight years! Eight long years I have suffered for this day, and my apocalyptic scheme has been foiled by the _weather?_ "

"There's no need to overreact," Sho returned. "We can always just kidnap Erza tomorrow. Whether we activate the R-System today or tomorrow won't really make a difference, right?"

"Actually, it's not that simple." Millianna spoke up hesitantly; when Jellal's furious gaze turned upon her, she raised her hands defensively. "Well, it's not. You know how we needed that specific dock to moor our boat at – the only one out of sight of the lifeguards, where we can get a bound hostage on and off our boat without being spotted? Well, with the storm today, pretty much every ship in the vicinity will have come in to the harbour. They'll take up all the dock space, and then since they've been forced to make land anyway, they'll probably get repairs done and stock up on supplies while they're here; that sort of thing. Basically, it's going to be busy in the harbour for a while. I'd say it'll take at least two or three days before we can get our spot back."

In a vain attempt to get his anger back under control, Jellal resumed pacing. "Fine. We'll carry out the plan in three days' time."

"Uhh… no, sorry," Sho said.

"What do you mean, _no?_ "

"I'm not working on the casino floor next week. They've got this new kid and they want to give him a go in the main casino, so, you know, I said I'd wait on tables in the restaurant instead. It's going to be a little tricky to get away with kidnapping Erza from within a casino hall full of people without my magic."

"The week after, then."

"Actually, I'm off the following fortnight," Simon pointed out apologetically. "I've accumulated some holiday leave since I starting working there, and I figured the plan would already have been carried out by then, so I booked in some days off so that I could go travelling."

"…Simon, once we've activated the Tower of Heaven, we're going to have true freedom. That's the whole point. Why would you think you would need to _book time off work_ in order to go travelling when we're ruling the world?"

"It's always sensible to have a backup plan, just in case something goes wrong. It's a good job I did, really."

"Well, something _has_ gone wrong, so cancel your holiday leave and get back to work."

"I _could_ do that…" Under Jellal's malevolent glare, the big man folded his arms. His boss could be as moody as he wanted; it wouldn't change the truth. "But it won't make a difference. They've already given my shifts to someone else; they won't switch them back at such short notice. They'll just give me an extra patrol route or something rather than my usual role as head of security, which sort of defeats the purpose of me being there in the first place. Plus…"

" _What?_ "

"My two weeks off has been on the wall planner for months now. Telling me to cancel it now is a little harsh."

"Alright, alright. We'll carry out the plan in September."

"You might want to take a look at the resort's schedule before deciding that. Just saying!" Wally added hastily, as their leader rounded on him. "Only, attendance really drops off once the summer season is over, and the resort usually tries to make up the numbers by hiring out the hotel and casino to host big events. First weekend of September, for example, they're holding the 105th National Rune Knights' Conference there. I can't be the only one who thinks trying to kidnap Erza from within a resort literally full of Rune Knights is a bad idea. Then, after that, they've got the Annual Inter-Guild Poker Tournament, followed by the Convention of Earth Magic Users, then-"

"I get the picture," Jellal interrupted coldly. "So, you're saying we'll have to postpone until October."

"Well…"

"Oh, what _now?_ "

Simon took up the story. "That would work, but do you really think we'll be able to lure Erza to the resort in October? I mean, the theme park closes at the end of September when the weather starts to turn, and who goes to the beach in October? The hotel and the casino are open all year round, of course, but even though Erza did betray us eight years ago and abandon us to our fates in the Tower, she still doesn't strike me as the kind of suspicious person who'd be really into gambling."

"…Fair point."

"The best we can hope for is March, I suppose. That's when the theme park area of the resort re-opens, and we can cross our fingers and hope for good weather."

"I can't wait until March!" Jellal practically screamed. "Eight years I've been waiting for this day, and now you're telling me to postpone it until next March?"

Sho reasoned, "We get how you feel, but it doesn't look like we have much of a choice. Yelling isn't going to change the fact that Erza didn't show up today."

"There has to be another way. I can't keep the Council away from the Tower for that long."

"You have to. Otherwise we'll all be in trouble."

Jellal turned away from them irritably and resumed pacing. The shadows moved restlessly with his every step. Those fools seemed to think it was so easy to be an evil mastermind and a member of the Magic Council at the same time. Even he wouldn't be able to divert the Council's attention away from an obviously evil cult for much longer without arousing suspicion. But whether it was possible or not was irrelevant. He couldn't wait that long. He _wouldn't_. And that meant…

"Then, there's nothing else for it," he murmured. "We're abandoning the Akane Resort plan."

"Are you serious?" Simon queried.

"Very much so. If the only way I can get Erza into the R-System before March is by going to her house and kidnapping her myself, then that's what I'm going to do."

It wouldn't be easy. Under normal circumstances, Erza was surrounded by her fellow guild mages, and he couldn't wait for her to embark on a long S-Class Quest when there was no guarantee she'd be doing one any time soon. If her guild noticed she was missing and tracked him to the Tower, there was always a chance that they'd be able to work out what was going on and prevent the activation of the R-System – and that was assuming he'd be able to steal her out from under their noses in the first place. Ordinary mages weren't a threat to him, of course, but on their home turf Fairy Tail would have the advantage of numbers, and there could be serious trouble if their Guild Master – himself a Wizard Saint, just like Jellal – got involved.

Yes, it would be a thousand times more dangerous than luring Erza to Akane Resort and nabbing her there, but then again this entire eight-year project had been dangerous. He was powerful and he was capable – the completed Tower rising up around him was evidence of that. Besides, if he was caught, they would automatically assume he was Councillor Siegrain, and he'd be able to use his influence as a politician to get himself out of trouble.

He could do this. Seriously, how difficult could kidnapping Erza be?

"You're going to go yourself?" Sho asked. "Do you want us to help?"

"No, it'll be easier if I'm alone." Easier to pass himself off as a member of the Magic Council if he was seen, anyway. Besides, breaking and entering, and fighting to subdue a mage who was powerful in her own right, was something he felt should be done alone. "You know what they say: if you want something done properly, do it yourself."

Millianna folded her arms crossly. "Hey, it wasn't our fault that Erza didn't show up today. Not even you can kidnap her from somewhere that she isn't."

"I want to come," Sho interrupted. "I want to see Erza. I won't be happy until I've confronted her for what she did to us all those years ago."

"There'll be plenty of time for a confrontation once we have her safely in the Tower," Jellal assured him, biting back his annoyance. He could afford to make them that promise – they had served him faithfully for eight years, and it was his fault that they harboured such a deep hatred for Erza anyway. There was no point in jeopardizing that and risking having them turn on him before the R-System was ready to go.

The others slowly nodded, accepting this new plan. "Right," Jellal added. "You four stay here and keep an eye on the Tower of Heaven for me. I will return as soon as I have Erza."

And that was exactly what he had intended to do. It just hadn't quite gone to plan.

* * *

"It's quite simple, really, Master," Levy was explaining.

There was a sharp edge to her tone that Jellal didn't like. For some reason, it was a lot more worrying to hear it from a bright and cheerful girl than it would have been from Natsu or Gray.

"Lucy's been having so many rent problems recently that she's considering moving out of her house and into the girls' dorms, so I was giving her a tour of the place this morning. Only, when we got to Erza's room, we found that the door was ajar, and we could hear someone moving around inside – which was odd, because we'd passed Erza heading into town just a few minutes earlier. So we went in to take a look – only to find this pervert, who had clearly broken into Erza's room and was going through her stuff."

"Which of you actually caught him?" Makarov demanded.

"That was Lucy."

Lucy gave a grimace as everyone's attention turned to her. "Turns out the only thing Aquarius likes less than being summoned from Erza's bathroom sink is creepy guys. She didn't even wash me away with him this time…"

Natsu clapped Lucy on the back. "I'm very proud of you, Lucy. Beating up a member of the Magic Council – it's like you've become a fully-fledged member of Fairy Tail at last."

His praise only made her swallow nervously. "In my defence, I didn't know he was a member of the Magic Council. I thought he was a burglar." As Jellal glared at her, she added meekly, "It's an easy mistake to make, right?"

Levy concluded her story with a bright smile which did not quite extend to her eyes. "We weren't entirely sure what to do with him, so we brought him to the guildhall to get some advice from everyone else. That's pretty much what we were discussing when you came in, Master."

Jellal scowled once again, tugging ineffectually at the ropes which bound his hands behind his back. They were already starting to go numb.

The girls had only caught him in the first place because they had taken him by surprise. In the moment that they had burst in on him, he had been torn between wanting to fight his way out as Jellal and bluff his way through the situation as Siegrain; unsure of how to respond, there had been a moment of hesitation, and the girls had seized their chance. It might have been impressive, if it hadn't resulted in him being bound to a chair. What sort of guild just _happened_ to have magic-suppressing rope lying around their guildhall anyway?

He was starting to see why his fellow councillors took such a disliking to this unorthodox guild. Over the past few months, he had often argued on Fairy Tail's behalf in the Council, simply because it annoyed his colleagues. Their antics kept things interesting for him. This, however, was too much. Their astounding audacity in treating him this way had to be punished.

"I'll tell you exactly _what you are going to do with me_ ," Jellal echoed, with all the venom he could muster. "You are going to untie these ropes this instant, and then maybe, just _maybe_ , I won't have your guild shut down by the end of the day."

As he had hoped, Makarov paled visibly at his threat. Unfortunately, Levy was less impressed. "You can shut up, pervert," she ordered him. To her Guild Master, she added, "He keeps claiming that he had a perfectly normal and non-perverted reason for breaking into her room-"

"I did."

"-but he won't tell any of us what it is."

Kidnapping was a perfectly acceptable reason for him to be there. It just wasn't a reason he could share with anyone else.

"Levy feels very strongly about this matter," Lucy explained to Makarov, almost apologetically. "I'm not sure I've ever seen her this worked up about anything before…"

"Of course I feel strongly about it! Erza's clueless when it comes to things like this, so someone has to stand up for her. He's a creep and a pervert and for the sake of women everywhere I can't let that stand."

"I'm not a pervert," Jellal scowled.

"You were going through her wardrobe!"

Well, he'd had to check that she wasn't hiding anywhere, hadn't he?

"Well…" Makarov glanced somewhat anxiously from the unusually defiant young woman, who clearly had the support of Mira and Lucy and most of the members of the guild, to their furious prisoner. Clearly, the last thing he wanted was to have to come up with some sort of judgement on the matter. He knew all too well what the repercussions would be if he submitted to the whims of his mages and made an enemy of the Magic Council. "I can see where you're coming from, Levy, really, I can, but if it's just our word against his-"

"Oh, we have photographic evidence. Didn't we mention that?"

"I checked the feed from the security cameras in the dorms," Mira confirmed, handing a lacrima about the size of her fist to her Guild Master. "Here's the recording. You can quite clearly see him breaking into Erza's room, and then once Lucy and Levy go in after him, you can see everything that happens inside through the open door."

As Makarov projected the footage stored in the lacrima onto the air in order to review it, Jellal averted his eyes in irritation. Alright, so he maybe should have taken out the surveillance lacrima before trying to find Erza, but he couldn't have been expected to account for _everything_. All his ingenuity had gone into his Akane Resort plan.

The existence of that footage was a problem. It wasn't as if he cared personally, but his enemies on the Council would have a field day if they ever got their hands on it. A political scandal right now was the last thing that he needed. Even if he managed to weather the publicity storm and retain his seat on the Council, it would be a big hit to his credibility at a time when he needed to appear authoritative and adept if he was going to convince the others to fire Etherion at the Tower of Heaven. The timing couldn't possibly have been worse.

Makarov gave a low whistle. "This _is_ incriminating."

Jellal did not like the look of the gleam that had entered the old man's eyes. What had happened to his nervousness? The politically-savvy Guild Master wasn't considering moving against him, surely?

"Right?" Levy insisted. "I vote that we send it to the major news outlets. The press love a scandal, and they'll ensure that the Council can't just brush this under the carpet. That'll send out the message that irrespective of the perpetrator's rank in society, creepy behaviour like this will not be tolerated."

"Though we wanted to check Erza was okay with it first, since it does involve her as well," Mira interjected, before Levy could begin ranting once again.

Silence followed her statement. Surprised, she glanced over her shoulder to look at Erza. The young woman was stood silently with her gaze fixed upon some invisible point on the floor. Her face was a mask. She gave no sign that she had even noticed Jellal, let alone that she was following the conversation.

Interesting. Of all the people in the room, the only one who could come close to understanding her sudden hesitance was Jellal himself. He wondered what she made of him. If he had been anyone else, caught trespassing in her room, would she have been as worked up about it as the other girls were? Quite possibly.

But because it was him, she didn't know how to react. Even though he had managed to convince her, during the handful of times they had met over the past eight years, that he was Jellal's identical twin, he knew that whenever she looked at him, she thought of Jellal – of the hell she had left behind; of her own weakness; of the boy she had once loved, who had betrayed her.

Who would betray her again, the moment he escaped the clutches of her accursed guild.

"Erza?" Mira prompted, causing her to glance up sharply.

Erza's gaze flickered briefly around the ring of mages, as if to ask why they were all staring at her. Slowly, her distant expression faded. She did not look at Jellal – she could not quite bring herself to do so – but, by focussing her intention solely on Makarov, she managed to give a somewhat normal response. "Uh, whatever the Master decides. That will be fine."

"…Seriously?" came Natsu's startled shout. "What happened to you, Erza? You're always getting mad at _me_ for the smallest thing, but this guy breaks into your room and you're not even angry?"

"Not really," she murmured.

If it wasn't for the dire situation he was in, Jellal might have laughed. That was it – the strong, proud warrior he had been observing from afar for the past eight years, reduced to a mere shell of a human being simply by standing in the presence of someone who reminded her of her past. How he longed to take her to the Tower! To reveal to her the true nature of his deception; to break her spirit completely and use her as a living sacrifice to achieve his dreams!

Oh, it would be beautiful. Just as soon as he could get out of these goddamn ropes.

"Erza," Gray began worriedly. "Are you sure you're alright?"

She had to drag her gaze away from the floorboards again to answer him. "Yes, I'm perfectly fine."

"It's alright to be upset," Lucy reassured her. "Finding out so suddenly that a creepy guy was caught in your room is a pretty horrible thing to have happen."

"It's something we're definitely going to make this pervert pay for," Levy added, raising the length of rope she held in a threatening gesture.

"Just you try it," Jellal hissed back. "I swear I will destroy this guild, along with everything that you hold dear. If I propose disbanding Fairy Tail, there isn't a single person on the Council who will stand up for you. This guild is finished."

The crowd began to jeer. The distinctive flicker of magic being called into existence sparked across his senses. They wanted a fight, did they? Oh, he'd be more than happy to fight them. If they tried turning magic upon him, it would only be a matter of time before the restraints binding him broke under the assault, and then to hell with pretending to be a law-abiding politician. He'd show these self-important mages the true power of the Master of the Tower of Heaven-

"Quiet," snapped Makarov, and the hall fell silent immediately. To Jellal, he said, "You've just given me an excellent idea."

"Oh?" the young councillor shot back; that lilting word a dare.

The Guild Master continued with perfect smug calmness, as if he hadn't noticed the challenge. "I think the main reason why Fairy Tail has so little support on the Magic Council is that the councillors don't know what it's really like to be part of a guild. They make the rules for us to obey, and they judge us harshly when we break them, without any consideration for what drives us to act in the way that we do."

"What's your point?"

"Only that I see before me an unprecedented opportunity to demonstrate to a member of the Council the true value of Fairy Tail's way of life. If it's acceptable to all of you, Erza included-" Here he paused to glance around the circle of mages "-then I have a proposal to make. We'll keep hold of this surveillance lacrima, without handing it over to the press or the Council, for thirty days, after which we'll destroy it. In return, for those thirty days, Councillor Siegrain – you will join my guild."

There was a moment of stunned silence, broken almost immediately by outraged cries from all the mages in the hall – Jellal included. "Are you out of your mind?" he demanded of Makarov. "I'm not joining your stupid guild!"

Makarov tossed the lacrima from one hand to the other. "It doesn't look like you've got much of a choice to me. Either you spend the next thirty days as a Fairy Tail mage, obeying all the rules of the guild and participating fully in all guild activities – or this evidence goes straight to the Council."

"This is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. I am _not_ joining Fairy Tail."

"Have it your way," the old man breezed, turning to Levy and holding out the lacrima. "I can leave this in your care, then, can I, Levy?"

"Don't!" Jellal snarled. When Makarov turned back to him, his eyebrows raised innocently, Jellal hissed, "This is blackmail."

"Ah, the councillor is finally catching on. As a politician, I thought you'd have been much more familiar with the concept, but better late than never I suppose."

"You won't get away with this. All you're doing is buying yourself thirty days. I _will_ destroy your guild."

"We're Fairy Tail. Do you think we're afraid of taking risks?"

"Whatever idiotic goal you're attempting to accomplish with this, I can assure you that it won't succeed."

"Then you have nothing to lose by agreeing to my terms, do you?"

Jellal scowled as he pretended to think it over. "All I've got to do is join your guild, right?"

"That's all."

"How can I be sure you'll keep your end of the deal?"

With a sigh, Makarov raised the lacrima in one hand and held his other directly above it, palm-down. He closed his eyes in concentration. As Jellal watched suspiciously, purple light began to spread from the old mage's palm to form a disc above the lacrima, curling into a familiar circular pattern.

"A self-destruct magic circle," Makarov explained, for the benefit of the guild members present, before focussing on their prisoner once more. "It'll detonate in thirty days. You can set the cancellation code yourself, and then no one but you will be able to stop it from destroying the lacrima once that time is up. Of course, until the moment it explodes, the lacrima is still fully-functional, and your rivals on the Council will have no trouble extracting the footage from it if you fail to uphold your end of the deal between now and then."

In a show of good faith, he held it out to Jellal, allowing the other to examine the magic he had bound to it. "Is that satisfactory?"

Jellal made a show of checking and double-checking it as best he could while he was still tied up, but he knew at a glance that the self-destruct circle had been cast exactly as Makarov had said. It seemed he really was serious about this. "Alright," he grunted.

"Then, do we have a deal?"

Thirty days.

All he had to do was put up with this infuriating guild for thirty days, and then the evidence would be shattered by the self-destruct magic and he could get back to destroying the world – once he had suitably punished Fairy Tail for their behaviour, of course. He could do that, couldn't he? He had endured all manner of humiliation in the service of the Council before he had finally managed to gain his seat amongst them, and it had all been worth it to get him closer to his goal. This was no different. He could put up with this for thirty days.

Except…

It didn't have to come to that. No, Makarov was unwittingly giving him an unprecedented opportunity. For the next thirty days, he would be in the same guild as Erza. No more sneaking around or making up excuses – no one would think anything of it if he approached her now. This was perfect. He couldn't have asked for a better opportunity to kidnap her.

He didn't _have_ to put up with this guild for thirty days – he only had to do it for long enough for him to separate Erza from the others and steal her away to the Tower of Heaven. Once he had her, the threat of blackmail became irrelevant, as there wouldn't be a society left to accuse him of any crimes.

Thirty days as a member of Fairy Tail.

A perfect thirty-day window in which to kidnap Erza.

For the first time since the weather had ruined his plans, a dark smile spread across Jellal's face. "We have a deal."

* * *

 ** _A/N:_** _So, hello and welcome to my third Fairy Tail story! As you'll know if you've made it this far, this one is a Jellal/Erza story set in a timeline where the Tower of Heaven arc has yet to happen. It's probably best described as a mix of romance, humour, and combat-oriented slice-of-life. This story has a habit of taking very silly ideas and then treating them very seriously. Most chapters won't be as silly as this one. A few will be sillier. Expect deadly serious full-chapter fights to the death sandwiched in between accidental dates, beach chapters, and every anime romance cliché in the book._

 _This story will update every Sunday evening, life permitting. It's going to take a while for Jellal and Erza to get together - not least because he's still an evil jerk and she has yet to get over her trauma from the Tower of Heaven. There are important themes in this story other than their relationship; in fact, there will be whole chapters in which Erza doesn't appear at all. We've got a mountain to climb before they can possibly get together. You have been warned._

 _Also, note the fact that this is T-rated rather than M-rated. And even that's just in case I end up going overboard with language and/or violence later on, which I probably won't. In other words, if you're looking for M-rated romance stuff, you're in the wrong place. This is a perfectly clean Disney-esque romance. Albeit with a Prince Charming who is hell-bent on destroying the world._

 _Right, I think that's pretty much all the orders of business. Thank you for reading the first chapter, and I hope you enjoy the rest of the story! ~CS_


	2. Making Plans

**Kidnapping Erza**

By CrimsonStarbird

* * *

 **Chapter Two: Making Plans**

"Master," Mira began. It might have been uncertainty that she spoke with, or it might have been exasperation. Either way, that dubious tone of voice would normally have worried Makarov, but he was in a remarkably good mood – as demonstrated by the fact that he just turned to her brightly rather than trying to scurry away to safety. "I'm not sure you've really thought this through."

"Of course I have," he deflected, folding his arms contentedly.

"Then why do I feel as though Fairy Tail is the one with the enormous self-destruct magic circle hanging over it?"

"It's your overactive imagination, I'm sure."

"No, Mira has a point," Lucy spoke up, sharing her friend's concern. "So after we captured that councillor and tied him up and tried to blackmail him – in other words, gave him any number of reasons to hate us – you've now left us with thirty days to convince him _not_ to disband Fairy Tail?"

"I wouldn't put it _quite_ like that…"

"But that's exactly what you did!" Gray joined the conversation. "As soon as those thirty days are up and we lose our leverage over him, he's going to get the Council to shut us down, and there's nothing we'll be able to do about it! Especially since we'll all be in prison by then for attempting to blackmail a member of the Magic Council…"

Levy burst into the group, her hands on her hips. "Also, is no one going to mention the fact that the Master just invited a creepy pervert to join our guild? I can't be the only one who thinks there's something wrong with that!"

"Be nice, Levy," the Master chided her, as if he thought a firm rebuke would be enough to bring back her normal friendliness. "We should at least give him the benefit of the doubt."

"Benefit of the doubt?" she retorted. "If he isn't a pervert, he's _definitely_ a burglar."

Makarov put his foot down. "Levy – in fact, all of you – this should go without saying, but I expect you to treat him exactly as you would any other member of this guild."

They all glanced over to look at the councillor, some reluctantly and others with curiosity. Once Jellal had agreed to their terms, Makarov had untied him, and now he was sat atop one of the long tables, slowly rotating his wrists in an attempt to get the blood flowing back to his fingers. On the back of his left hand was a brand new Fairy Tail mark, dark blue in colour. Makarov had insisted that he put it in a place where it could easily be seen. Every time Jellal caught a glimpse of it, his expression noticeably darkened.

There was a palpable aura of anger emanating from him. Around his body, the air shimmered like a heat haze as his magic seethed in empathy with his feelings. He may have been keeping it in check for the time being, but it was an obvious threat; a warning to them all to keep their distance. Between that, and the intense 'I hate everyone' vibes that he was projecting, the rest of the guild were happy to give him a wide berth. He was mostly ignoring the resentful looks he received from his new colleagues, but when he sensed the attention of Makarov's group on him, he wasted no time in shooting them a venomous glare until they turned away again.

It was going to be a long thirty days for them all.

Levy sighed. "Alright, alright, I'll try and be nice to him. I just can't believe you've signed us up for thirty days of _this_ …"

"You'll pull through," Makarov said, but for some reason, it wasn't at all reassuring.

"Thirty days to save the guild…" Gray observed pessimistically. "It'll be a miracle if we even survive for that long. I suppose we should at least go and introduce ourselves. It might make him slightly less inclined to murder us in our sleep."

The small group trudged off towards Jellal. All except Erza, that was, who didn't appear to notice they had left, and would probably have remained stood on her own if Lucy hadn't gone back and encouraged her join them. Even when she did follow them over, she lingered at the back of the group, as far from Jellal as possible.

As before, Levy's indignation gave her a fearless defiance that even the most courageous mages envied. She had no reservations about striding straight up to the moody councillor, completely ignoring the dangerous magic flickering around him and the warning look he shot her the moment she got too close.

"Hey," she greeted him. "Looks like we're going to be colleagues from now on, so I'll be keeping a close eye on you. I'm Levy, by the way."

"I don't care who you are."

"Nice to meet you too, Mister Pervert."

"Levy…" Lucy began worriedly.

"I know, I know, _be nice_ …" The girl gave a sigh. "These are Lucy, Happy, Natsu, Gray, Mira… and I'm guessing you know Erza already."

Jellal said nothing. Erza had returned to staring at the floor.

"So… Siegrain, right?" Lucy tried. His resentful gaze jumped immediately to her. She found herself wishing that he was still tied to a chair. In her best attempt to seem friendly, she offered him a nervous smile, reaching for a safe topic with which she could attempt to make conversation. "Do you have a place to stay in Magnolia while you're here with the guild? I'd have thought it would be too far to commute from Era."

Jellal made a small gesture that, if he had been in a more relaxed environment, might have been a shrug. "I'll just stay in the dorms."

"No, you won't," Levy interrupted sweetly. "Two reasons. One: the dorms are for girls only. Two: if you ever set foot inside that building again without the express permission of one of the residents, then councillor or not, I'll be filing a restraining order on your ass on Erza's behalf."

"Levy, _friendly_ ," Lucy reminded her once again. In an attempt to smooth things over, she added, "I might be able to help with accommodation. My landlady was telling me about one of her friends in the business who's just had a tenant up and leave without warning – she thinks he might have been a criminal who's fled the country. By the sounds of things, she's pretty desperate at the moment, and she'd be fairly open to last-minute, short-term rents if you wanted somewhere to stay for thirty days. I can arrange a meeting for you, if you'd like? Then maybe we could call it quits on the whole tying-you-to-a-chair thing…"

"Whatever."

It was probably the closest thing to an agreement Lucy was going to get. She was just glad of a chance to make amends with this frankly rather terrifying man they were all going to have to put up with for the next thirty days. "Great. I'll talk to my landlady, and-"

Unfortunately, her optimistic plan of action was never finished, as someone across the other side of the room yelled, "Heads-up!"

A few months ago, Lucy might not have paid much attention to such a distant shout, but since she had become a member of Fairy Tail, she had quickly learnt to take such warnings seriously. She broke off her sentence immediately, wheeled around, picked out the small black shape flying towards their group, and threw herself to the side. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Levy and Happy doing the same.

Jellal glanced up with something of a bemused expression, his attention drawn not by the shout itself but by the girls' apparent overreactions. He did not look like he was going to react at all – then, an instant before the missile hit him, his hand shot up and snatched it clean out of the sky.

He examined the offending object – and did a double-take. He had been expecting some sort of weapon. Instead, he found himself holding a turkey leg covered in barbecue sauce. Utterly bewildered, he scanned the room in search of the person who had thrown it, but no one from that side of the guildhall was paying him or it the least bit of attention. In fact, there appeared to be some sort of fistfight going on over there.

"Hey, nice catch," Natsu admired, utterly unconcerned that someone had just thrown a turkey leg at them. "You must be pretty good at fighting with reflexes like those."

Jellal probably should have been annoyed, but the situation was so bizarre that not even he knew how to react. As the leader of an evil cult, a Wizard Saint, and a member of the magical world's governing body, he had a far greater range of life experiences than most, but none of his previous lives, so it seemed, had equipped him with the ability to deal with what passed for _normal_ in this guild.

Pointing at the turkey leg, Natsu continued, "Are you going to eat that?"

"Of course not!"

"Great, thanks." Natsu snatched it out of the other's grasp and sank his teeth into it with relish.

Mira, noticing Jellal's disbelieving expression, just gave a chuckle. "You'll get used to it," she advised him, gesturing at the brawl just casually going on at the far side of the room. "This happens all the time. Though, it's usually Natsu or Gray who starts it, so I have no idea how that one happened."

"Yeah, I'm getting out of here before those two join in and make it worse," Lucy piped up. She grabbed Erza's arm. "Come on, Erza. Let's go and talk to my landlady."

"Why me?" Erza wondered out loud, though she didn't resist as Lucy began dragging her towards the exit.

"Because you're the only person I know who's scarier than my landlady," came the matter-of-fact response. And then, more quietly: "Also, because you look like you could do with a walk…"

Jellal's eyes narrowed as he watched Erza walk away, but before he could jump up and follow the girls, Mira patted his shoulder amicably. "Those two probably have the right idea. If you stay, you'll only get dragged into it. Tell you what, while they're destroying the main hall, how about I show you round the rest of the guildhall? You've got nothing else to do, right?"

Lucy and Erza had already disappeared from his line of sight. He could make up some excuse and go after them, but not without making it obvious, and he could sense Levy's suspicious gaze upon him. Best to play it safe for the time being. There would be better chances to get Erza on her own than in the middle of a city in broad daylight.

"I guess not," he grunted, and he got to his feet and followed Mira out the door.

* * *

Lucy cast a sideways glance at her companion. It was unusual for Erza to be this quiet. She had thought that her friend would relax a little once they were on their own in Magnolia's familiar streets, but it was clear that Erza's thoughts remained stuck in the guildhall. Lucy had the distinct feeling that if she wasn't leading them onwards, Erza would just be walking absently around in circles until she hit a lamppost.

It was obvious that the morning's events had got to Erza, just as they would to anyone. Lucy wanted to help her, but she wasn't the easiest person to talk to at the best of times – and her abnormal behaviour didn't make it any easier for Lucy to know where to start.

"Erza," she began hesitantly, and she was almost relieved to get no response. Erza wasn't ignoring her; her mind was simply too far away to register her voice.

Heaving a sigh, Lucy glanced up at the overcast sky. Not for the first time, she wondered if it would be possible to reschedule the beach trip they had had to cancel because of the storm. She felt as though Erza really needed a holiday right now. Maybe she'd wait for the weather to clear up, and then look into it.

But that wasn't going to help her get through to Erza right this minute. So she repeated, a little more firmly, "Erza?"

This time, she managed to attract the other's attention. "Lucy? Sorry, I wasn't listening…"

"That's alright. Look, Erza, I've got to ask – do you and Siegrain know each other?"

A guarded look sprang into Erza's eyes. Lucy didn't think it was an expression she had ever seen before from her open, blunt, and often tactless friend. Even Erza had her secrets, didn't she?

But Erza just said, "Not really," and shrugged. A breeze blew down the street, temporarily lifting the summer's heavy humidity. "We've met a few times before when I was summoned to the Magic Council, but nothing more than that."

"Really?" The strangest thing was that Lucy was sure her friend wasn't lying. Nothing about this situation made much sense. "Have you got any idea why he might have been in your room?"

Erza shook her head. "I really don't. I'm sorry."

"That's not something you should be apologizing for, Erza."

"He was probably just looking for me. I don't know why he would do that, though. I wasn't aware that we'd caused any major problems for the Council recently."

"But if that's all he wanted, why not come to the guild? Or, I don't know, when he knocked on your door and found that you were out, why did he break in rather than doing what any normal human being would do and come back later? I hate to say it, but I think I'm with Levy on this one. There's something creepy about that man. But, don't worry, Erza! Me, and Levy, and Mira, and everyone else in the guild – we're all looking out for you. We're not going to let him try anything funny while we're around."

That downcast look, perfectly matching the cloudy skies above, had returned to Erza's eyes. Not the anger of the storm, or the sparkling warmth of gratitude, or the summer blue of optimism – just a dead, apologetic nothing.

 _Maybe I'm going about this all wrong,_ Lucy thought. _There's more going on here than I know. Erza doesn't know how to act around this man, but she doesn't want to vilify him any more than she wants to be near him. Whatever her feelings, it's not protection – or presumption, or even intervention – that she needs right now. It's support._

She placed her hand gently on Erza's shoulder. The armoured mage wouldn't have been able to feel that gesture, but she did notice it. "Well, you can always talk to me in confidence, if you need to. And, we may have all got off to a bad start, but I hope that we and Siegrain can start to get along before he destroys our guild."

"Yeah. You're right, Lucy. I need to stop overthinking things, and instead make an effort to get to know him for who he is, just like I would for any other new member of the guild." She met Lucy's gaze and managed a faint smile, and it seemed as though some semblance of normality had returned to her countenance. "Thanks, Lucy."

"Sure, no problem." Lucy wasn't entirely sure what she had done to deserve the other's thanks, but Erza was starting to act like a normal human being again, and that was good enough for her. "Glad I could help. I don't feel so bad about dragging you out to deal with my landlady any more."

"Is she really that bad?"

"I live in hope that one day I'll manage to make a rent payment on time, and I'll be able to meet her when she doesn't have a reason to hate me…"

"Point made," Erza said, and they walked on down the street.

* * *

The moment the tour was over, Jellal left Fairy Tail's guildhall. The brawl was still ongoing in the main hall, and despite Mira's insistence that it was nothing to worry about, the last thing he wanted was to be dragged into it. That level of vulgarity was too much for him to deal with. Even his anarchy-loving world-destroying evil cult knew where to draw the line. If that really did count as 'normal' for Fairy Tail, this guild had serious problems.

He had never thought that he, of all people, would find himself longing for the strict rules and regulations of being a Council mage. How on earth was he going to put up with this sort of juvenile behaviour for thirty days?

He may have agreed to Makarov's condition of obeying all the rules of the guild while he was a member here, but he figured that didn't mean he had to remain in the guildhall all the time. If Erza could go wandering around the city in the middle of the working day, infuriatingly out of his reach, then so could he. Being a guild mage was evidently a lot more relaxed than working for the Council, which he supposed was vital for the mental health of its marginally saner members: no one could spend a full working day in the guildhall with those people without going completely crazy.

Rather than heading for the centre of the city, Jellal walked towards the great lake, which stretched out behind Fairy Tail's guildhall. It was the heart of Fiore's summer, when the pleasant time of year beloved of beachgoers edged a little too close to the rainy season for comfort; neither too warm nor too cold, but far too humid to be pleasant. Worse than the stickiness of the air or the ever-present rolling of distant thunder was the feeling of portent that permeated the washed-out world. Every living being could sense that this was the calm before the storm. Soon it would break upon this earth, and with it would come devastation.

The only storm Jellal cared about was the one of his own making, the likes of which the world had never seen. It was only a matter of time before it descended upon them all. This was only a minor setback. He could be patient.

So he sat on the shore of the lake and stared out towards the horizon. There was no breeze to rustle the surface of the water. It reflected the unmarked obscurity of the clouds above, a flawless mirror far into the distance, until its milky-grey opacity became the dappled green of woodland and the pale purple of mountains; a serene and lonely landscape. Jellal figured wasn't going to get more privacy around the guild than this, so, against his better judgement, he called Ultear.

She didn't answer. He hadn't thought she would, but that didn't make it any less annoying. He tossed the small communication lacrima impatiently from hand to hand as he waited for her to respond to his telepathic message. There was no way that she wouldn't know he was trying to contact her – the crystal orb she always carried on her person doubled as a private communication device, encrypted just like his to a level that allowed them to discuss their evil schemes in complete confidence – but there was nothing he could do if she refused to connect to the telepathic link from her end.

Well, she was probably in a meeting. Possibly even with the rest of the Magic Council. He wondered if they had noticed he was missing yet. Under normal circumstances, he could have created a Thought Projection to act as 'Siegrain' and attend Council meetings for him, as he did whenever they inconsiderately organized government meetings to clash with his very important criminal schedule. Unfortunately, he could hardly pretend to be Siegrain in Era while he was also pretending to be Siegrain in Magnolia. Even those fools on the Council would notice something fishy about that. They may have bought the whole twins idea, but triplets was pushing it a little far.

After another minute or two, he gave up trying to reach Ultear directly and left a message instead. He explained his current predicament as briefly as possible, doing his best to make it sound less humiliating and more intentional. It had all been a spontaneous plan to work his way into Erza's confidence. He had deliberately let them record the footage they were currently blackmailing him with, because as long as they felt that this was all their idea and they were completely in control of the situation, they wouldn't suspect that they were actually playing right into his hands. It wasn't technically blackmail at all; he was doing this because he wanted to and all their threats would become irrelevant anyway as soon as he had Erza.

He didn't think she'd buy it, but it was worth a shot.

"Call me back as soon as you can," he growled to the softly glowing crystal. With that, he terminated the message, dropping the orb back into his pocket with a sigh.

He lay back on the grass and gazed up at the sky. Not a single bird's black shadow swept across his vision; without the sounds of lapping waves or the summer's breeze, it might as well have been a scene frozen in time. The tranquillity made him restless. He had spent eight years waiting, just like this, and now he sought action.

"The sooner I can get out of here, the better," he muttered to the clouds, the harbingers of his storm. "Before being around this guild drives me insane. Erza, you will be mine."

* * *

As it turned out, kidnapping Erza was going to have to wait. After his first kidnapping plan had been ruined by the weather, Jellal hadn't thought it would be possible for anything more mundane than that to come between him and his apocalypse, but that was before he spent an entire afternoon negotiating a tenancy agreement and moving into his temporary home.

Jellal was hardly an expert when it came to dealing with the property market. There were two places he could have called home, were he the kind of person who cared about that sort of thing – and to be fair, that was two more than most people his age owned. Unfortunately, as one of them was the high-end penthouse apartment expected of a member of the Magic Council, and the other was the hideout of a dark cult situated in the middle of the ocean, neither of them were very typical of an ordinary house.

Lucy had managed to set up a meeting with the landlady in a café. The entire discussion was rushed and informal. Jellal hadn't cared much at the time, because this was nothing more than a formality; a token gesture to suggest that he was complying with Makarov's demands and not planning to run off the moment he successfully kidnapped Erza. Yes, it had hot running water; yes, it had walls and a roof – that was good enough for him. They settled on a price which Lucy assured him – somewhat enviously – was a very reasonable rate for the single month, and that was the end of it.

Or at least it should have been. It was only once the contract had been signed and he had stepped into his new apartment that he realized why it had been so cheap. The landlady had failed to mention that when the previous tenant had fled the country, he had taken everything of value with him to sell – which included all the furniture.

And so Jellal found himself in the middle of an empty flat, staring round at the bare floorboards and curtain-less windows, seething inwardly and cursing the situation Fairy Tail had put him in with every ounce of his being.

"I am _this_ close to destroying the world," he snarled to the dusty air and the bleak white walls. " _This bloody close._ I shouldn't have to _do_ things like this."

But until the moment the R-System activated, his situation was no different from that of any other human being in this godforsaken world. So, with a growl of frustration, he set off in search of some cheap furniture.

* * *

Night had fallen by the time Jellal returned to the guildhall. Makarov had instructed him to register his new address with the guild as soon as possible, which he did and then left again in a hurry, despite Mira's best attempts to make him stick around for a bit longer and get to know some of his fellow guild mages. That was the last thing he wanted.

No, after the day he had had, all he wanted to do was go back to the privacy of his new home and work on his evil schemes in peace.

Lost in thought, he pushed open the door of the guildhall – and found himself face to face with Erza. She had been stood in the street outside, about to enter the guild. The moment she laid eyes on him, she froze.

There it was again: the fear that flashed across her face; the crack in the warrior woman's armour. She had no idea how to act around him, and it amused him greatly. If only she knew what he had planned for her, she would be a _lot_ more afraid of him.

Grinning inwardly, he stepped out of the guildhall and let the door swing shut behind him. "Erza," he greeted her, calmly, and even a little arrogantly; the mocking cadence of those two syllables seized upon the vulnerability of her present mental state.

"Siegrain," she whispered in response. Just like earlier in the guildhall, she could not hold his gaze for long. She was staring at the cobblestones an inch or two in front of his feet without even being aware that she was doing it.

He was content just to watch her for a moment, loving how uncomfortable she felt in his presence; enjoying how much power he had over this strong woman. The satisfaction of seeing his Erza so broken, such a fitting sacrifice for his ultimate plan, was the one tiny upside to this whole turn of events.

So, how was he to deal with her? He knew she believed that he was the fictitious persona Siegrain rather than the Jellal she had once known, but she was also the only person in the world capable of figuring out the truth, and that meant he had to treat her with care. As long as she kept her uncertainty bottled inside, he was safe, but if his presence here prompted her to tell her friends about Jellal and the Tower of Heaven, it could throw a spanner in the works of his plan. The last time they had met, after she had been summoned before the Council, he had half-reminded, half-threatened her to keep the secret of the Tower. Would it be worth using her moment of uncertainty to hammer home that message once more?

Before he could make up his mind, Erza spoke unexpectedly. "Siegrain," she said again, and there was a resolve in her voice that had not been present a moment ago. It was only a fragment of the inner strength she had possessed when they had fought side by side to survive in the hell of their past, but it was there nonetheless; shaken by their reunion but by no means broken.

"What?"

To his amazement, she met his gaze, and even tried to smile. "Earlier today, and when we met before, at the Council – I think we got off on the wrong foot. We're going to be colleagues for the next thirty days, so… can we start over? Let's try to get on, as fellow Fairy Tail mages."

Jellal stared at her. Was she actually _apologizing_ to him? When he was the reason why she was so hurt and unsure in the first place? Yet he could detect nothing but honesty in the way she extended her hand to him in a gesture of friendship.

The temptation to mock her out loud was strong, but stronger still was the instinct for deception that had got him to where he was today. This would work perfectly. If Erza and 'Siegrain' started over, so to speak, it would be even less of a reason for her to bring up the past, thus ensuring the safety of his secret. And his victory would be all the sweeter when he finally got to reveal the truth to her at the end of everything.

So he shook the hand she offered him. "Alright."

A hesitant smile lit up her face. "I'm glad. I guess we'll start work together tomorrow. I'm going home now, so I'll see you then."

And with that, she raised a hand in farewell and began to walk off down the road.

Jellal was about to do the same – or, at least, try to find his way back to a flat he had only been to once down roads which looked eerily different in the dark – when a thought occurred to him.

Erza. Walking home. On her own. In the dark. Through a deserted town. Where she clearly expected no danger at all.

Was he going to get a better opportunity to kidnap her?

"Wait!" he shouted after her, impulsively. "I'll walk you home."

Her eyes widened. She protested, "That's really not necessary-"

"I know it's not. But… I'd like to. As you said, we got off on the wrong foot, and I'd like to make it up to you. So, please allow me to accompany you."

"…Alright." There it was again, that tremulous smile. "Thank you."

She paused, waiting for him to catch up. See? Easy as pie. Screw working for Fairy Tail. Screw living in a house without furniture. Screw being the comrade of these stupid, childish mages. He could end the world this very night-

"Oh, are you two heading in the direction of the dorms?"

A bright and not-at-all innocent voice cut through the night. Erza stopped, so Jellal had to stop too, turning to locate the source of the interruption. A blue-haired girl was sticking her head out of the guild's main entrance – what was her name again? Levy? Yes, that was it. He certainly didn't care enough about these people to actually learn their names, but the politically adept part of him that had successfully got him his seat on the Magic Council acknowledged the importance of that sort of thing.

Levy continued cheerfully, "Excellent timing. You can help. Wait there one moment."

Her head disappeared back inside the building without a word of explanation. Jellal cast a sideways glance at Erza, but she seemed completely unfazed by this development. Before he could say anything, the girl reappeared, this time holding a crate half as big as she was.

"Take this," she instructed him, and dumped the crate into his arms before he could object. It was just as heavy as it looked. "Thanks!"

"What…?" he wondered, but she had already vanished back into the guildhall, reappearing a moment later holding two smaller crates. One of them went to Erza; the other she kept hold of herself.

"Levy," Erza began sternly. "I thought the Master had banned you from taking any more books out of the Archives."

Levy pulled a face. "What the Master doesn't know isn't going to hurt him." At the older mage's disapproving expression, a defensive note crept into her tone. "Seriously, he goes down there like once a month, tops. I'll have these books back before he even notices they're missing. Come on, let's go!"

Frowning, Jellal nudged aside the lid of his crate to find that it was indeed packed full of books – some new, most old, and almost all were treatises on history or language or magic. Some of the latter were unfamiliar even to him.

"Siegrain!"

He glanced up at Levy's annoyed snap to find both girls already at the end of the street. "Hurry up!" she urged. "If we're still here when the Master gets back from the bathroom, we'll be in trouble!"

As the two girls began to walk off together, chatting amiably about their plans for the coming weekend, Jellal gave a low growl. He could probably take out both the girls – if he went for Erza first and used the element of surprise to knock her out, the other one probably wouldn't pose much of a threat to him.

But then he'd have to take both of them to the Tower just to be absolutely certain Levy – or her corpse – wouldn't be able to give anything away, which wouldn't be the easiest journey, and he'd have to dispose of the books first. Plus, the Magic Council wouldn't be in session now so the earliest he could get Etherion to fire would be tomorrow morning, and people might grow suspicious if the two girls who had left together with him hadn't turned up to work by then. If they were able to track him to the Tower, or communicate their concerns to the Council before he could guarantee their cooperation on the matter of Etherion…

No, it was too risky to make a move under those circumstances. He'd endure this for now, and wait for his chance. There'd be better opportunities to kidnap Erza. He had thirty days, after all.

Thirty more days of this _._

Thirty bloody days.

"I take it all back," he swore to the crate of books in his arms. "Erza or no Erza, I can't spend another minute in this guild."

* * *

Ultear finally called him back.

He was back in his new flat by then, his hopes of kidnapping Erza having been foiled by an exuberant girl and a crate of books. It was a disappointing end to what had probably been the worst day of his life so far – and when he felt the familiar sensation of the communication lacrima tugging at his mind, he had the distinct feeling that things were only about to get worse.

He hadn't bought a bed in the end – mattresses were far too expensive when a blanket stuck on top of a second-hand sofa would do the job just fine – so he perched on one end of the sofa and stared out of the window, glad that his room was on the second floor so he hadn't needed to invest in curtains. He took the softly glowing lacrima in his hand, mentally braced himself, and opened their telepathic link.

To be fair, Ultear _was_ trying not to laugh. She just wasn't trying very hard. Not even the cold fury he was projecting along their mental link could quench her mirth, and it was a good minute before he could get any sense at all out of her hysterical laughter.

"Ultear, this is _not_ funny."

"You're right," she told him gleefully. "It's _hilarious._ "

He struggled to keep his temper under control. "No, it's not. It's a very serious situation and I want you to get me out of it."

"I can't."

"That's an order, Ultear!"

"I said I _can't_ , not that I _won't_ ," she deflected calmly. "Look, I want to help you, Jellal, I really do, but what do you expect me to do? I may be on the Council, but so are you; I can't do anything to help you here that you can't do yourself. I certainly can't stop Fairy Tail from blackmailing you. Though, if you'd told me what you were going to do in the first place, I would definitely have advised against breaking into a female dormitory without any kind of forward planning at all…"

"Alright, alright, I get the picture," he growled. "But surely the Chairman has noticed I'm missing by now."

"Oh, I told the Council where you were."

Jellal did not like the casual way she said that. "…Then the Chairman is going to intervene with Makarov and get me out of this guild and back to the Council, right?"

"Yeah, about that…"

" _What?_ "

"Well, the Chairman kind of thinks this is a good situation for you to be in."

"What the hell do you mean, a good situation?"

"Oh, you know. It's good experience, since you're the youngest member of the Council and have never been in a guild, and it's good for you to see more of the world, and interact with non-Council mages for a change…"

As if she genuinely believed he couldn't tell when she was being evasive. "Ultear, what did the Chairman _really_ say?" he snapped.

"…That you've been getting a bit cocky recently and he hopes this humbling experience will bring you down a peg or two."

He gave an alarming scowl, even knowing she couldn't see it. "Of course I have! I am _this_ close to destroying those fools and everything they hold dear!"

"Well, sure, _I_ know that," came her complacent response. "But _they_ don't, do they? As far as they're aware, the newest member of the Magic Council – and the youngest councillor in history, might I add – has been getting a little too big for his boots since his appointment, and I'm not surprised they've jumped at the chance to get you out of the way for a month or so."

Jellal growled something unintelligible. "This is ridiculous. The Council can't function without me for thirty days. They're all fools if they think this will end in anything other than a total disaster for them. If the Chairman just ordered Makarov to let me go, well, Makarov's a reasonable man; surely he'd see it wouldn't be my fault that I couldn't uphold my end of the deal any more and allow me to renegotiate our settlement!"

"…This is the same 'reasonable man' who is currently blackmailing you, right?" Ultear pointed out dryly. "Sorry, Jellal, but it doesn't look like you're going to get any help from the Council on this one."

"So I'm stuck here, then."

"It does look that way, doesn't it?" she chuckled.

"I don't know what you're so happy about. Need I remind you that while I'm here pretending to be a Fairy Tail mage, I'm not in the Tower of Heaven bringing about the end of the world?"

"Of course not. This turn of events has certainly set our plans back, but then again, I have faith in you. You're the one who built the Tower of Heaven and infiltrated the Council, after all. I'm sure you'll think of some way out of this."

"I'm grabbing Erza and getting the hell out of here at the first available opportunity," Jellal grumbled.

"…Well, it lacks the elegance of your original plan, but I suppose simplicity has its own charm. Best do it quick, though, before those Fairy Tail mages tame you."

"Before they- _what?_ "

Her laughter returned in full force. "Have fun being a guild mage, Jellal."

"I hate you," he scowled, but she had already terminated the link.

In the absence of anyone to curse, Jellal glared at the blank walls until the stillness had stolen away his annoyance. Resting the lacrima on a stained old coffee table that was doubling as his bedside table, he lay down on the sofa and tried to relax – not an easy task, when the humiliation of his present situation weighed heavily on his mind. Even the promise that the world would soon come to an end in ruin by his hands was of little reassurance when, first thing tomorrow, he had to go back to that accursed guild before he could even begin the destruction of all.

And so, too troubled to rest, the soon-to-be destroyer of the world lay on an uncomfortable sofa, bathed in the unrelenting sodium-orange glow from the streetlamps outside, and wondered how anyone was supposed to get to sleep in the middle of a city without any curtains.

* * *

 _ **A/N:** Poor Jellal. Things keep getting worse for him, and he isn't getting any sympathy for Ultear. Or from yours truly. Tormenting him is too much fun. In fact, I'm only just getting started. Hehe. ~CS_


	3. S-Class Quest

**Kidnapping Erza**

By CrimsonStarbird

* * *

 **Chapter Three: S-Class Quest**

"Hey, Siegrain! Let's go on a job!"

Jellal slowly looked up into the grinning face of a certain pink-haired Dragon Slayer and felt the despair that had sparked into existence at the sound of his fake name being called immediately double in weight. "Let's really not."

Day three.

He still hadn't kidnapped Erza.

He was still, technically, a Fairy Tail mage.

Yesterday, the second almighty storm had broken over Magnolia. It was the perfect atmosphere in which to carry out a world-destroying plan, but unfortunately, as he had learnt the last time a storm had coincided with his arranged kidnapping of Erza, the most appropriate ambience was not necessarily the most practical one. Thanks to the torrential rain, all the Fairy Tail mages were stuck inside the guildhall rather than out on jobs, Erza included. Kidnapping her was an impossibility when there were so many witnesses, especially since Makarov seemed to be keeping a particularly close eye on him.

That old Guild Master was a lot more perceptive than he liked to let on – and if successfully resisting all attempts to have his troublesome guild closed down for forty-eight years wasn't enough evidence of that, Jellal wasn't about to take lightly one of his fellow Wizard Saints. Makarov wasn't an enemy he wanted to face until it was already too late for his plan to be stopped. So he had spent the first hour of the working day within arm's reach of his oblivious sacrifice, and yet unable to lay a finger upon her.

Like children cooped up inside, the guild mages became increasingly rowdy as the morning dragged on, tending towards boisterous competitiveness in a way worryingly reminiscent of the food fight that had broken out the previous day. Thus, with the downpour showing no sign of relenting, Jellal's frustration soon got the better of him and he left the guildhall. The lack of enthusiasm for work in the guild – or in the city as a whole, given the weather – seemed to be a valid excuse for a day off.

Instead, he had taken the train to Era and back, returning briefly to his apartment in the city in order to pack enough clothes and personal belongings to see him through the rest of his time in Magnolia. He had walked past the Council Headquarters, and spent a lot of time glaring up at it, but he hadn't gone inside. It was probably best to avoid a confrontation. Considering how close he was to his goal, he didn't want to risk losing his temper with them and giving them cause to throw him off the Council permanently.

It wasn't a short journey to Era, and with the added delays of the weather on the train network, his trip had taken up the best part of the day. That was two days of being part of this guild down, and although he hadn't managed to grab Erza yet, he hadn't really had to interact with any of their annoying mages either. He even found himself hoping that the inclement weather would continue, so he could completely avoid doing any work in this stupid guild until his thirty-day period was up and he could get on with destroying the world.

But with the way his luck had been going recently, he wasn't at all surprised when the third day had dawned bright and early, without a cloud in the whole damn sky.

Jellal had been sat sulking in the guildhall as normal work – or the disorganized mess that passed for 'normal work' in this guild – resumed, trying his hardest not to attract any attention, but judging by the enthusiastic expression on Natsu's face as he, Lucy and Happy had approached his table, that plan had already fallen apart.

Unimpressed by Jellal's cold rejection of his job proposal, Natsu folded his arms crossly. "Well, you can't just sit around here all day doing nothing. Gramps said you had to follow all the rules of the guild, and that includes the one which says all members have to go on a job at least once every three days."

"Really?" The question came not from Jellal, who didn't really care, but from Lucy, who glanced curiously at her teammate. "I didn't know that. Since when has that been a rule?"

Natsu gave an evasive shrug. "Oh, you know. It's always been a thing around here."

Happy's tone of voice was slightly more suspicious. "Then how come those guys haven't been kicked out of the guild yet?" he asked, pointing over his shoulder at the table where Macao, Wakaba and their friends were currently eating and chatting without a care in the world.

"Uhh… Gramps makes an exception for them. Since they're pretty much the only people in the guild legally old enough to go drinking with him."

"Uh-huh…"

Happy didn't sound convinced, and Jellal was even less so, leaning back on his chair, resting his feet atop the table, and glaring up at Natsu in a way clearly meant to signify the end of the conversation.

Unfortunately, Natsu wasn't really one for taking hints. Only slightly less enthusiastic than before, he tried, "Okay, so the rule might have been a lie, but don't you want to come on a job with us? I mean, that's what being a guild mage is all about!"

"I don't consider myself to be a guild mage. Ergo, I don't care."

"That guild mark on your hand seems to suggest otherwise."

"That guild mark is the evidence that is going to get your guild closed down in twenty-eight days and counting," came Jellal's cool response.

Natsu, Lucy and Happy exchanged glances. "I told you he'd be like this," Happy muttered to the others.

Lucy sighed. "Look, Siegrain," she reasoned. "I know that you might not think going on a job with Natsu and I will be much fun, but is it really going to be worse than sitting and sulking in the guildhall for the next twenty-eight days? Don't you at least want to do _something?_ "

Why was she being nice all of a sudden? Had Erza said something to her? There would be trouble if she had. Jellal narrowed his eyes, but Lucy seemed to be expecting a verbal answer. "Fine, I'll go on a job," he conceded. "But I'll go on my own."

"Nah, you can't go out alone your first time," Natsu told him, having perked up again now that working was back on the table. "That one actually _is_ a guild rule. Sorry."

Jellal scowled. "You'd only slow me down. I used to do this sort of work all the time for the Council."

"Even so, the rule exists, and it does so for a reason." At the sound of this new voice, deep and authoritative, Natsu's childish retort vanished immediately. Jellal glanced up in annoyance to see Makarov approaching their group, his hands clasped behind his back. "The legal guilds and the Council operate in very different ways, as you well know. Go out with Natsu and Lucy. It'll be an experience."

If Jellal had disliked the idea before, then now he was completely opposed to it. Nothing described as an _experience_ ever turned out well. He glowered at the old man, though it was more out of spite than anything else. He knew that trying to intimidate Makarov, especially when the Guild Master was in possession of a certain lacrima, was not going to end well for him.

But as Jellal tried and failed to think of a way out of this situation, an idea came to him. If he couldn't avoid going on this mission, he could at least turn it into an opportunity. He might not be able to kidnap Erza while Makarov was keeping an eye on him inside the guildhall, but if he took her elsewhere first…

"Alright, I'll go on the job with you – under one condition. I want Erza to come too."

"Absolutely not," came Lucy's immediate response. "We're not letting you near Erza-"

"Actually, Siegrain has a point." This was Erza. She had come over to them at the sound of her name, and, although she wasn't looking at Jellal, she seemed fairly determined. "If I accompany you, we can go on an S-Class Quest. He _is_ a Wizard Saint, after all; it's understandable that he'd want to go on a more difficult job which is better suited to his abilities."

"Yeah, I really don't think that was his motivation…" Lucy objected, but her protest was drowned out by Natsu's excited shout.

"Alright! Yeah! You hear that, Happy? Erza's taking us on an S-Class Quest! For real, this time! I can't wait to rub it in Gray's face when he gets back! Ha! Come on, Lucy; let's go choose the most dangerous one!"

"Oh, joy…"

With a lively shout, Natsu dragged Lucy and Happy off in the direction of the Request Board. Erza glanced at Makarov. "Is that acceptable, Master?"

He gave a single nod. "You two are the responsible ones, so I'll be expecting you to keep an eye on them."

"Leave it to me," Erza assured him, with a proud, solemn smile.

Jellal rested his forehead on the table with a groan.

* * *

Ten minutes in and Jellal had already had quite enough of this 'experience', thank you very much.

First he had been roped into this stupid mission, turning a perfectly good opportunity to kidnap Erza into what was quickly shaping up to be a day of babysitting an overexcited Natsu. They had given him no say in which job they did, and promptly gone on to pick one situated in some obscure village in the middle of nowhere, dashing any hope of wrapping it up in an hour or so and getting the evil villain thing quickly back on track. Then, it had taken Erza and Lucy so long to figure out how to get to this damn village that they had almost missed the only train, and Jellal, whose 'organization' stat was at a high enough level to let him run two completely separate lives at once without anyone suspecting a thing, had been forced to sprint along the platform with the rest of them.

To add insult to injury, he soon discovered that Natsu turned into a complete and utter wreck the moment he set foot upon a moving vehicle. It was so bad that just looking at him made Jellal feel nauseous. Erza and Lucy were apparently so used to this that they could block it out, and were sat around ignoring the glares of other travellers and chatting about hot springs or some other such nonsense, as if this was a perfectly normal trip out.

So Jellal's first job as a guild mage began with him sitting as far away from his team as possible, pretending he didn't know them, and spending the entire journey plotting every last detail of his revenge against Fairy Tail.

If Makarov honestly thought he was going to spend the day protecting the stupid guild mages who had dragged him on this mission against his will, that old man was sorely mistaken. In fact, it was quite the opposite. The more Fairy Tail mages who were tragically injured in unfortunate accidents while on a very dangerous S-Class Quest the better, as far as he was concerned. Jellal had no intention of sabotaging the job himself when he was supposed to be acting as a responsible member of the Magic Council, but if Fairy Tail's reputation was anything to go by, he wouldn't have to raise a finger for this day to end in disaster.

Now that was a thought. Maybe, if Fairy Tail _really_ screwed up on this mission, the rest of the Council would declare the guild unfit for purpose, disband it, and leave him free to return to the Council and resume his world-destroying project.

It was a long shot and Jellal knew it, but on the other hand, watching the Fairy Tail mages struggle was the only thing that could possibly make this day a little bit entertaining.

By the time the train pulled into the station at the very edge of civilization, and they disembarked to begin their hike into the wilderness, Jellal had made up his mind. He wasn't going to help them one bit on this mission. If he couldn't find an opening within which to isolate and kidnap Erza, then he was at least going to watch them fail miserably.

* * *

Jellal was not the only member of their group who was having a bad day.

In fact, Lucy's current predicament might even have counted as worse than his. While Jellal's situation had been brought on at least in part by his own failed attempt to kidnap Erza, Lucy had only been trying to do the right thing – and it had backfired spectacularly.

Truth be told, Lucy had felt quite bad about Jellal's situation. On one hand, she agreed with Levy's view that anyone who would break into a girl's room was at least a little bit creepy, and that he ought to be kept away from Erza, the target of his apparent obsession, until he had proven he wasn't really a pervert but a respectable man who had just been the victim of circumstance. On the other, she thought that forcing him to join the guild as punishment was a bit harsh – especially when he was obviously so unhappy being here. As someone who had had a certain way of life forced upon her from a young age, which she had only recently been able to break away from, perhaps she could empathize a little. Maybe she still felt guilty about having been the one who tied him up in the first place.

Whatever the reason, upon seeing him so alone in the guildhall, she had suggested to Natsu and Happy that they go on a job together in order to get to know him better. They could at least make an effort to involve him in guild activities – and then maybe he would see that Fairy Tail wasn't all that bad.

It had taken about two minutes for her plan to completely fall apart. Rather than some sort of easy mission in the town centre, where they could chat whilst working together on casual tasks, she had ended up way out of her depth on an S-Class Quest. It had been nothing short of a fluke that the last S-Class Quest they'd been on – the Galuna Island incident – had ended without disaster; something Natsu had conveniently forgotten. In fact, considering the virtually suicidal nature of the job they had signed up for, Natsu's irrepressible exuberance was unbearable.

Plus, it wasn't just that Jellal had been even more hostile towards them than she had feared, but the sneaky bastard had only gone and got Erza involved as well. Both Lucy and Levy agreed that Erza was pretty clueless when it came to this sort of thing, and thus it was their job, as her friends, to look out for her – which included making sure that he wasn't given the chance to pull another inappropriate stunt while she was around. So now Lucy had her hands full trying to stop Natsu from getting too far ahead, ensure Erza wasn't lapsing back into the distant state she had been in when Jellal had first come to the guild, and keep a very close eye on Jellal himself.

She was already worn out – and the S-Class Quest hadn't even started yet.

They were headed for a remote village called Appenzell, situated on the edge of a hilly region to the north-east of Magnolia. The terrain wasn't steep enough to be truly called mountainous, but it wasn't easy going either. The four mages – five, if you counted Happy, though as Lucy watched him flying with perfect ease over the perilous track, she felt strongly inclined not to include him at all out of sheer spite – were currently trekking through a broad valley. On either side, emerald pastures stretched lazily out beneath a cloudless sky and the bright August sun, until the gradient became too steep and the grass gave away to small peaks and rocky outcroppings.

Lucy and Erza walked side by side at a more sedate pace than Natsu wanted; he and Happy were constantly dashing on ahead and then waiting impatiently for them to catch up. Several metres behind them on the trail, Jellal reluctantly brought up the rear, his hands in his pockets, looking like he would rather have been anywhere else in the world than here. Lucy was starting to agree with him on that count, but the glares he shot her every time she looked back to make sure he was keeping up made it clear that she wasn't going to find any sympathy there.

In the distance, the chiming of bells lent a misleading ambience of domesticity. There was no livestock in sight – nor, for that matter, any wild rabbits or other such creatures. This was not a hospitable place. In the winter, the route they had taken to get here, following the map alongside crevasses and white water rivers, would have been filled with snow and nigh on impassable. Though it may have been a place of serene natural beauty, the scenery's allure had worn off after ten minutes or so, whereas traversing the rocky road grew only more difficult.

Not that Lucy was really dressed for hiking. She hadn't considered, back when she had run away from home to join Fairy Tail, that her new life was going to involve even more extreme activities than fighting the odd dark mage, and she made a mental note to expand her wardrobe appropriately at the next available opportunity.

If there was one good thing about this mission, it was that Appenzell apparently had hot springs. With any luck, once they completed the job for the village, they would be invited to visit the hot spring baths for free. Having that to look forward to once the mission was over was just about the only thing keeping her going.

Then again, as Lucy trudged along in silence, stuck between an overenthusiastic Dragon Slayer racing on ahead and an incredibly grumpy councillor doing his utmost to look like he wasn't with them, and not entirely sure which of them was worse to deal with, she reflected, _Actually, I take that back. Not even hot springs can make up for this._

"So, Erza," Lucy began to her companion, trying to sound cheerful. The false brightness in her voice was a fitting match for the deceptive beauty of the summer's day. "What is the mission we've come here to do, exactly?"

"You agreed to this without knowing the mission details, Lucy?"

Lucy winced at Erza's disapproving tone. It wasn't her fault – she had signed up for a normal job in Magnolia, not an S-Class one out in the middle of nowhere! If not for the fact that she didn't trust Natsu to keep an eye on Jellal by himself, she would have backed out of the job at the first opportunity. "I didn't really get past the part where they mentioned the hot springs," she shrugged.

"Appenzell is a cursed village," Erza explained. "According to the job request, anyway. A nightmarish creature lives nearby, and in return for sparing the villagers, once a year they must offer up one of their own as a living sacrifice to appease the beast. It is our duty to slay it and save the village."

"We've got to kill a monster that regularly eats people? And Natsu is fired up about this?"

"It certainly seems that way." Erza gave her a resigned smile. "Whatever awaits us, it has been deemed dangerous enough to warrant an S-Class difficulty rating. We mustn't let our guard down."

"Oh, yay," Lucy lamented.

They walked on in silence as she considered the task before them. Fighting powerful monsters alone wasn't exactly her strong suit, though she felt significantly safer with Erza there than she would have done with just Natsu and Happy. Erza did this kind of difficult job all the time – or so Lucy hoped. As long as the older girl kept her head in the game, everything would be fine. Probably.

They were approaching the edge of the alpine pasture. The mountainous ridges on either side were slowly closing in on the trail, heightening Lucy's feeling of dread. Above the perpetual ringing of the bells, she heard a distinct scratching sound coming from the cliffs to the right.

Immediately her nervous mind evoked an image of an enormous creature scrabbling for purchase on the rocks. Reaching instinctively for the keys at her belt, she spun around, her heart hammering – but nothing moved amongst the shadows of the rock face. The lack of a tangible enemy to blame only made things worse.

"Lucy?" Erza inquired. "Is something wrong?"

After a few moments of intense scrutiny failed to yield the shadows' secrets, Lucy was about to say that it was nothing – until she noticed that she was not the only one who had stopped. Back along the trail, Jellal was staring up at the same cliff face. Frowning, Lucy shouted to him, "Siegrain! Did you see something?"

As if annoyed by the interruption, he glanced at her and gave a non-committal shrug.

"It is far too quiet around here," Erza observed. "This is the perfect place for cattle to graze. I find it difficult to believe that there isn't a single settlement around here that would make use of it, not even Appenzell itself."

"I was just thinking that," Lucy agreed.

"Hey! What's the hold up?" Natsu was jogging back to them, with Happy gliding along at his shoulder.

"I thought I heard-" Lucy began, and then she froze. A shadow fell over her. A shadow from the cloudless sky. She sensed the presence of something enormous right above them – and she screamed, "Natsu, look out!"

It struck the ground in front of Lucy with an impact that almost knocked her off her feet. With one arm thrown out for balance, the other shielding her eyes against the clouds of dust, she scrambled backwards, trying to make sense of the monster that had appeared before them: scales and claws and teeth and killing intent exploding onto the serene alpine pasture. The next thing she knew, a great reptilian tail was sweeping towards her-

"Lucy!" This was Erza, jumping in between it and her, blocking the monstrous limb with a sword held in both hands. It pushed her back a good metre or two before her feet found purchase on the gravelly path and she could bring it to a halt. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, where's Natsu, did he get hit?" Lucy shouted back.

Before she could answer, the barbed tail was withdrawn and its owner wheeled around to face them. Even on all fours, it was three times her height – a reptilian beast with draconian scales, a lizard-like tail and a crocodile grin. Its great gaping maw was filled with fangs each as long as Erza's sword. Its scales were the speckled grey of igneous rocks; camouflage against the mountains, yet only serving to heighten its ferocious magnificence at the heart of the summer meadow. When it leaned forwards to roar at the two of them, Lucy saw the great leathery folds of skin connecting its front legs to its body that had allowed it to assault them from the sky.

"This must be it," Erza remarked, Requipping her Heaven's Wheel Armour and levelling her twin swords at the beast without a trace of fear. "This is the monster we've come here to destroy."

"Already? But we haven't even reached the town yet!"

"This monster is clearly dangerous, Lucy, and it attacked us out of the blue. If we were ordinary travellers, we would be in trouble. As mages, it is our duty to beat it, whether or not it is the creature we were specifically commissioned to eliminate."

"Yes, I know _that,_ " came Lucy's exasperated response. "It's more that if we take it out before we've officially accepted the request from the townsfolk, there's a chance they might use it as an excuse not to pay us…"

As it lunged at them, great jaw snapping shut just inches away from the two girls, they both darted aside. "I don't think not getting paid is our biggest problem right now, Lucy," Erza told her sagely.

"The words of someone who has never missed a rent payment…" Lucy muttered to herself, but she deftly pulled the ring of keys from her belt, ready to join in the fight. "Natsu, are you alright?" she called again. There was still no sign of her teammate, and if he had been caught in the impact-

Her worries were alleviated when a burst of flames exploded on the far side of the beast. It hissed as it recoiled from the explosion, and the Dragon Slayer shot over the top of it, fire blazing around his fists and feet. He landed next to Lucy and grinned at her, not the least bit put out by the ferocity of their opponent. "Course I am!"

"What is that thing?" Happy called down to them from the air, where he was circling the scaled beast from a safe distance. "Natsu, is it a dragon?"

"A dragon?" Natsu echoed, laughing. "Heh. Igneel eats lizards like this for breakfast."

"I think it's a wyvern," Erza supplied, but in complete contrast to Natsu, there was an anxious look on her face. "Though I've never seen one this big before. It must be really old."

"But all we've got to do is take it out, right? This mission is gonna be a piece of cake."

The wyvern lunged for them and the three of them scattered once more. By implicit consent, they spread out to flank the creature. It wouldn't make much of a difference when its sweeping tail, as thick as a tree trunk and covered in lethal spines, was just as dangerous as its jaw or its claws, but attacking from all sides at once might well be the only way to take down an opponent so much bigger than themselves.

"Loke! Let's help them out!" Lucy called, raising the golden key towards the heavens. Her friend and fellow guild member was there in an instant, helping to pull her aside in the nick of time as that tail swept towards her again.

Erza landed briefly atop the wyvern's head, touching down elegantly between the spines, and kicked off again. With her metal wings spread wide, like an angel of war, she soared above it and hurled her right-hand blade towards its head – only to have the weapon bounce straight off its armour plating. "These scales are like rocks," she cursed, right before its attention snapped to her and it was all she could do to block its sudden slash with her spare blade.

Attacking simultaneously from both sides, Natsu and Loke weren't having any more luck. Neither the dragon's fire burning around Natsu's body nor the celestial shine emanating from the Lion Spirit's fists was making a dent in their enemy's stony armour; each blow was hurting them more than it. Lucy wished she could do more to help, but if not even Natsu could break its scales, she certainly wasn't going to be able to. Best she could do was act as a distraction so that it couldn't turn that tail upon Natsu or Loke. Four opponents were bound to be more difficult for it to deal with at once than three-

Hang on a minute. Weren't they missing someone?

Frowning, Lucy glanced back down the trail for Jellal. He was stood exactly where he had been when the wyvern had dropped down from above. His arms were folded; although he was watching the battle with rapt attention, he showed no desire to take part. Never mind magic – he wasn't moving a muscle, not even when a stray blade from Erza's storm of swords bounced off the wyvern's armour plating at an unfortunate angle and impaled the ground only centimetres from his feet.

So he wasn't afraid of the battle, but wasn't he going to join in?

Yet her angry thought quickly dissolved into guilt. For all she knew, he might not be that good at fighting. Erza had said he was a Wizard Saint, like their Master, but they probably gave that title out for all sorts of reasons – knowledge of magic, perhaps, or exceptional magical abilities that were of little use in combat.

What sort of magic did he even have? She could hardly sense any power from him at all – though that was more likely to imply that he was especially good at hiding it than that he had little to begin with – and the odd trace she could detect was of a form completely unfamiliar to her. There were no clues on his body that gave it away either, like Erza's armour or her own celestial keys. It was probably best to leave him be, and with any luck, he would at least have enough battle experience to be able to get away if the beast came after him.

It wasn't doing, though. That one thought nagged away at her as she turned her attention back to the wyvern just in time to jump away from another broad tail sweep. She was slower this time; a wicked spine scratched the skin of her arm. Unlike the combatants, who were running rings around the beast and evading all its random swipes, Jellal's complete stillness made him the perfect target… didn't it? But it wasn't going after him at all. Maybe they were just doing a good job of drawing its attention.

Panting heavily, Erza let the wyvern knock her back, her armour absorbing the blow, and she landed a safe distance away on one knee. Her eyes narrowed. "We're not going to win like this." The light of magic enveloped her body and moulded into the shape of black plate armour, like that of a villainous knight in days gone by. A pair of draconic wings protruded from her back; she grasped a blade almost as long as she was firmly with both hands. "But we can break through its defences if we coordinate our strikes! Natsu! Loke! On my count!"

Natsu glanced down at his knuckles, raw and bleeding from punching the beast's stony hide, and grimaced. "Fine! Just this once!" Flames enveloped his body. Over the creature's far side, Loke's fists began to blaze with brilliant light. The formidable power flowing into Erza's blade manifested as a radiant crimson glow.

"Three! Two! One… now!" Erza commanded. She was already shooting fearlessly towards the wyvern. Natsu and Loke, ducking under its flurry of wild slashes, sprang in from either side; a spiralling burst of fire and a roaring lion of light fused into one brilliant explosion, into which Erza flew, carving through the shattered scales and deep into the monster's neck.

Lucy felt a surge of pride at the perfect execution of the team attack. She couldn't help glancing over at Jellal to check that he had been watching. _See that?_ She wanted to say. _That's what being a guild mage is all-_

There was an ear-splitting roar. Echoes resounded from the mountains; ripples through the grass and tremors in the ground itself. A claw speared through Loke's chest. A tail slammed into Natsu. A crocodile jaw clamped down on Erza's midriff.

Clapping her hands to her mouth in horror, Lucy could do nothing but stare as the three of them fell to the ground. The wyvern stood completely unharmed in a circle of dented earth and blackened grass. Those rocklike scales were cracked but not broken; not even the intense heat of the fire had been able to melt its armour. It howled in triumph – and then it turned to her.

Facing down the monster's full might, Lucy was completely paralyzed. The thought of fighting back didn't even occur to her; it was as if she had forgotten how to breathe.

And then, without warning, it spread its wings and took to the air, climbing a little with every clumsy wingbeat. It was several seconds before the ungainly creature was high enough above them for Lucy to realize it wasn't coming in for another attack. It flapped its way back up to the clifftop, disappeared into a shadowy cave opening, and did not return; a minute later, even the scrabbling sound of its claws within the tunnels of stone had faded.

"Natsu! Loke! Erza!" Screaming their names, Lucy sprinted across the charred pasture. Slowly, painfully, all three of them stirred at her shouts.

Loke had suffered the worst; fortunately, he was the one who could take it. Glowing fragments rose like fireflies from the hole the beast's talons had torn straight through his chest. "Sorry, Lucy," he told her, with a rueful grin. "I'm going back home for a bit."

"Take it easy, Loke," she instructed, and he gratefully vanished back to his own world.

Erza's armour had protected her from the worst of the damage – her blade might not have been able to penetrate the wyvern's defences, but its fangs had not pierced hers either. There were large bruises already developing underneath the dented metal, and Lucy hoped they weren't indicative of any serious internal damage. With her usual calmness, Erza Requipped a simple cloth outfit instead of armour to take the pressure off her wounds, and didn't make a single complaint about it.

Likewise, Natsu seemed more upset that his flames hadn't been able to damage the monster than at his own pain. After bragging about how easily Igneel would have been able to kill it, total defeat must have come as quite a blow to his pride. In fact, total defeat hurt all of them.

They looked at each other, and then down at the ground. None of them said anything. Silence fell. Even the distant bells had ceased to ring.

Lucy began awkwardly, "I suppose it wouldn't really have been right if we had defeated the final boss this early into the mission. And besides, S-Class Quests aren't supposed to be easy, are they?"

"I guess not," Natsu complained. "But I can't believe my flames had no effect on it at all…"

"Only a fool would use fire magic in a battle against a wyvern," interjected a cool voice. Now that the enemy had disappeared, Jellal was casually approaching the group, his hands back in his pockets. His evident amusement jarred against their despair. "Especially an igneous breed like that one. Their scales are extremely resistant to heat. I thought everyone knew that."

"Hey, you have no right to say anything when you didn't bother helping at all-!" Natsu began angrily.

Lucy jumped in to try and move the conversation along before an argument could break out. That would be a sure-fire way of making an already bad situation worse. "We've never fought a wyvern before. I didn't think there were any this far north."

Jellal glanced at her, and shrugged. "It is unusual to encounter one in the mountains, since they tend to live in more temperate regions, or even rainforests. Igneous ones have been known to make their lairs in volcanoes, though."

Impulsively, Lucy found herself asking, "Why didn't it attack you earlier? It went after us three and Loke, but it didn't come near you."

His eyes glittered. He knew something they didn't; she was sure of it. "It's the right question to ask," he said. "But then again, the solution is blindingly obvious."

Clearly, he had no intention of explaining himself. Lucy hadn't thought anything would be worse than his sullen unfriendliness, but this blatant mocking was enough to make her wish he'd go back to ignoring them. He clearly wanted them to fail. It would only give him more ammunition for when he came to disband the guild.

Fine. In that case, all they had to do was complete the mission, destroy the wyvern, and prove to him that Fairy Tail mages were more than capable of doing their job.

Erza spoke before she could. "Did you see where the wyvern went, Lucy?"

"Into that cave." Lucy pointed up to it. "There must be tunnels; I could hear it clawing its way back through the mountainside."

"It didn't fly away?" Happy inquired.

"No, it definitely went underground."

"But why wouldn't it fly to safety, if it had wings?"

Lucy blinked. Since when had she been the expert in monster behaviour? "No idea. Maybe it just prefers the dark."

"Well, it's gone now," Erza interjected. "Let's take this opportunity to get to Appenzell and talk to the townsfolk. They might be able to shed some light on this situation."

"Good idea," Lucy agreed.

Natsu and Happy led the way. Lucy followed them for a couple of steps, before realizing Erza wasn't with her. A glance over her shoulder revealed that she was still staring up at the almost-invisible cave mouth, into which the wyvern had vanished. As if to herself, Erza murmured, "The bells have stopped…"

Lucy was about to ask her why she had brought it up when she caught a glimpse of Jellal's expression. As was often the case, he was looking at Erza, but there was a light in his eyes that sent a shiver running through her. That was the predatory gaze of the hunter, of glee and admiration; excited that his prey was beginning to understand the situation.

 _Not on my watch,_ Lucy thought fiercely. She grabbed Erza's hand and marched off after Natsu, dragging her away from Jellal. "Come on, Erza. Let's go clear this mission."

* * *

Their route took them to the edge of the pasture, where it was bounded by steep rocky slopes that they would have struggled to climb without specialized equipment. Fortunately, the track led to a fissure in the rock walls, and from there it sloped up towards what passed for peaks in this not-quite-mountainous region. They mostly walked in silence; their injuries, the apparent indestructible might of the monster they were supposed to defeat, and Jellal's relapse into sullenness didn't exactly encourage cheerful conversation. This mission had already been a failure in every way possible.

They emerged onto a ledge, whereupon the path forked in two. One route led up towards a rock face riddled with cave entrances; the other turned steadily downwards, taking them into another valley, at the bottom of which they could see houses, ploughed fields, and a small river feeding a waterwheel.

"That's Appenzell." Erza said out loud the words they were all thinking, bringing a modicum of cheer back to the group at the thought that they had finally arrived. She pointed up to the mountainside, where the pitch-black caves watched them like multiple monstrous eyes. "I bet the wyvern lives up there somewhere."

"Let's not go that way, then," Lucy said quickly. "It's probably best if we go and talk to the Village Elder who posted the job request before we get dragged into another fight."

Much to her relief, Erza nodded and led them to the village.

Their descent into the valley led them to a scene of utter serenity. This was the perfect spot for a village: picturesque, bright, quiet, and sheltered on all sides. Even the inaccessibility factor wasn't much of an issue, when the settlement appeared entirely self-sufficient. A small river, sparklingly clear, emanated from somewhere in the mountains and ran alongside the cluster of houses. The presence of geothermal springs hinted at fertile soil. The surrounding pastures, barring the wyvern, would have made for the perfect place to graze cattle, while the slopes weren't short of forests supplying timber and game to hunt. It may have been remote, but that was part of the charm of a village like this.

After the attack in the meadow, however, none of them were about to take the tranquillity of the village at face value.

For one thing, it was the middle of the day. It was sunny; clear; crisp. Smoke was rising from several of the chimneys. But there was not a single sound coming from the village – not a shout, nor a footstep, nor the bark of a dog. Nothing stirred in the streets. Lucy's hand rested over the ring of keys at her belt for comfort; at her side, she saw Erza's hand sitting on the hilt of her sword.

Most of the buildings were the small, rustic lodges typical of a remote alpine region: wooden cabins, rarely more than a storey high, scattered around a core of houses and shops constructed from local bricks. At the far end of the village stood an enormous church of pure white stone. Directly above it rose the highest peak overlooking the village, at the very top of which, carved into the rock face itself, was a bell tower. Three great bells were visible; deeper inside the mountain, there were probably many more, combining to create the magnificent pattern of chimes that had guided them through the region. Now, they were as silent as the village below.

"It's pretty," Lucy murmured, an observation only meant to fill the eerie silence.

"Yeah," Natsu agreed. "I assumed everything would look a bit more destroyed, with the wyvern around."

"Perhaps this is the value of a single human life," Erza said softly. "One sacrifice, and the beauty is preserved for another year."

Jellal did not offer up an opinion, but that came as a surprise to no one.

Natsu added, "Where is everyone?"

"Maybe they ran away, and will come back once we've destroyed the wyvern," Happy suggested.

"No, they're here," Erza answered. "Someone was ringing those bells earlier. Let's keep moving."

By unspoken consent, they headed towards the church – by far the most impressive building in the whole of Appenzell. Its white stone was spotless, untouched by dirt or moss; the lawns around it were as neat as the gardens of a stately home. If the rest of the village could politely be described as 'traditional', the church wouldn't have been out of place in a major city. No expense had been spared in its construction and maintenance.

Sure enough, it was from this church that they received their first sign of life: the door opened a crack, revealing a sky-blue eye and a flash of ginger beard. "There are strangers here!" he called over his shoulder. He sounded almost scared. After listening for a response only he could hear, he pushed the door open fully and beckoned the party of adventurers over.

After exchanging glances, they decided they had better go and investigate, and they were ushered inside without a word of explanation. The interior of the church was as far as possible from the valley's bright silence: dark, cold, and filled with a low, rhythmic murmuring which ebbed somewhat as the guild mages entered.

They stood within a great nave, filled with rows of pews and lit only by candles. It would have been impressive to anyone who had not grown up in the shadow of Kardia Cathedral, yet the mere fact that this church belonged to a remote village, rather than to a city like Magnolia, testified to the fervour of the villagers' religious faith – or their superstition. Glancing around, Lucy could not see a single piece of religious paraphernalia that she recognized. No statues of angels, religious artefacts, or holy texts decorated the interior – not the instantly recognizable emblem of the Church of Zentopia, nor an icon of one of the numerous pagan deities still held sacred in more remote locations.

The church was full of people. It seemed as though every inhabitant of the village must have been present. Every one of them was wearing a similar set of extravagant clerical robes, even the children. They stared at the newcomers, some with fascination in their eyes, and others with wary hostility; shadows in the dimly lit hall. The murmuring never quite faded to nothing.

Evidently deciding that any attempt to integrate would ruin his moody image, Jellal remained loitering by the doors, but the others, at a nod from the man who had beckoned them into the church, approached the altar. Standing in front of the congregation was an elderly woman, dressed in earthy red robes and leaning heavily on a gnarled staff. She barely came up to Erza's shoulder; her long grey hair, in twin braids, reached almost to the floor.

She did not smile at the Fairy Tail mages. "Welcome to Appenzell. I am Rosa, the Village Elder."

Erza dipped her head slightly. "I am Erza Scarlet, S-Class mage of Fairy Tail, and this is my team. We have come in response to the request you sent to our guild."

"There are four of you?" Rosa wondered. It wasn't clear whether it was Happy she wasn't counting in that, or Jellal, since the latter was still skulking at the back and showing no inclination to join in with the discussion. "I was under the impression that S-Class Quests were done alone."

"Usually, yes," Erza confirmed. "But my friends are accompanying me in order to gain experience."

Strictly speaking, 'experience' probably didn't make the top five of motives Lucy had for being there, but she appreciated that they ought not to tell their client that she was only there because she didn't trust the last member of their team enough to leave him alone with Erza.

Erza was saying, "Besides, our odds of defeating the wyvern will be far greater with four of us rather than just one."

"…Indeed." The elderly woman's expression became grave. "Then you have already met… the wyvern."

"We have. It attacked us as we were approaching your village."

The murmuring of the congregation at their backs briefly rose in intensity. "And yet you are alive," Rosa observed.

"It was a difficult battle," Erza admitted. At her side, Natsu fidgeted in annoyance, but he managed to remain quiet and let the mature S-Class mage speak on their team's behalf. "We weren't expecting an attack, and the wyvern got away from us unharmed. That won't happen again. We know what we're dealing with now."

Again, the murmuring. Lucy cast a nervous glance over her shoulder, half-expecting the villagers to have left their orderly pews and be surrounding the strangers. She wondered if every conversation with the Village Elder had to take place in front of an entire crowd – or indeed, if this was how they acted every time outsiders entered the village. Little wonder no one had bothered building a train station anywhere near.

Erza continued, "It would be a great help if you could tell us everything you know about the wyvern that plagues your village."

"Very well." Rosa bowed her head. "Ask me your questions, and I will answer them to the best of my abilities."

"When did this begin?"

"It was thirty years ago, to the day. I remember like it was yesterday." The elderly lady closed her eyes; for the first time, it seemed that a true silence descended upon the grand church. "It was my wedding day. We had just finished building this very church. My father, the previous head of the village, had bequeathed his fortune to the community so that we might have a temple worthy of our tradition, and my fiancé and I had overseen its construction, so that our marriage would be the first ceremony held within. It should have been a day of great happiness and prosperity, but when our sacred bells rang out across Appenzell for the first time… it appeared."

"The wyvern."

"Indeed. My husband led it away, so that the rest of us could take shelter in the church. We had only been married for five minutes. He was the bravest man I had ever met, and his sacrifice pacified the beast. The rest of the village was spared."

"That's awful," Lucy said. "I'm so sorry."

"You are very kind," Rosa replied. "Indeed, we were afraid that day, and confused. We avoided the church; it existed as a monument to the death of my husband, and I could not face it. We lived in fear, because we did not understand. Only on the anniversary of my husband's death did we open those great doors once again, a memorial ceremony, and that was when it came back. This time it took a child, and vanished once again. That was when we understood. We had angered the god under the mountains; our debt must be repaid in blood. So things have been ever since."

"Not for much longer," Erza spoke up fiercely. "It will end today, I promise."

The shuffling of feet and the rustling of cloaks rose up from behind them; it seemed that this time, Rosa had to cast the congregation a stern look in order to pacify them. Slightly put off by the dark mood, Lucy raised her hand in an attempt to lighten it. "Umm… I have a question."

"…What would that be?"

"Where are the hot springs?"

"Hot springs?" For a moment, Rosa seemed completely mystified. "You don't look like a geologist."

"I'm not," Lucy blinked back. "I just thought it would be a nice way to unwind once the mission is over…"

"…Ah. We _do_ have hot springs, but they are sulphurous, geothermal springs buried deep underground. Geologists come by to study them from time to time. They are not suitable for humans to bathe in."

"Perfect for a wyvern, though," Erza added thoughtfully.

Lucy could not care less what the wyvern liked to do to relax. What she cared about was that the one good thing in this whole terrible day had turned out to be another false hope. "This day just gets better and better…"

"Well, this has been a most enlightening conversation," Jellal cut in. Lucy jumped; she had completely forgotten that he was there, and his loud, purposeful tones cut harshly through the hushed reverence of the church. He strode down the aisle towards them, robed villagers scurrying out of his way. "But we're not going to complete this job by standing around here and chatting all day, are we?"

"True," Erza conceded. "I think it's likely that the wyvern lives in the tunnels within the mountains, close to the warmth from the geothermal springs. Let's head up to those cave entrances we saw and take a look around. We might be able to discover a way of beating it."

Rosa interrupted, "You're all going up there together?" She sounded positively alarmed.

"Yeah, Erza; what if the wyvern comes back to the village?" Jellal jumped in on the old woman's side. His arms were folded, there was a smugness to his tone that immediately set alarm bells ringing in Lucy's mind. Her suspicions were confirmed when he continued, "Let's split up. Erza and I will go and investigate the caves where the wyvern lives. You lot stay here with the townsfolk just in case."

"Oh, I don't think that's a good idea," Lucy interrupted at once.

"Why not?" he challenged her, his eyes full of ice.

 _Because I am absolutely not leaving you alone with Erza,_ she thought, but she couldn't exactly say that out loud. Not that it mattered – his furious glare made it all too clear that he knew she was on to him.

"Because, ah, umm, you know how this is an S-Class Quest and all? Well, you're a Wizard Saint and Erza's our S-Class mage, so you're the ones in charge here. Don't you think it makes more sense to split you two up?"

" _No_."

"I'm perfectly responsible," Natsu grumbled.

Fortunately, Erza came to her rescue. "No, Lucy has the right idea. It makes more sense to split the teams in this way."

"Great." Without giving him the chance to make another hostile retort, Lucy seized Jellal's arm and began pulling him to the church's door. "Siegrain and I will go check out the caves. You two keep an eye on things here."

"Don't touch me!" Jellal snapped, but Lucy's righteous grip was like iron.

Natsu watched them go with his hands on his hips, before giving up with a sigh. "Happy, go with Lucy. She might need your help if he refuses to fight again." The cat gave a resolute nod and flew off after the two of them. "I sure hope she knows what she's doing…"

* * *

 ** _A/N:_** _So, the start of a more serious two-parter this time, mostly just setting up for the actual important stuff to happen next chapter. Lucy's doing her best to befriend Jellal despite everything, but he doesn't seem to appreciate the gesture, and is mostly just being an unhelpful git. Ah, well. Maybe if she stopped accidentally foiling his kidnapping attempts, he'd be more friendly. ~CS_


	4. Living Sacrifice

**Kidnapping Erza**

By CrimsonStarbird

* * *

 **Chapter Four: Living Sacrifice**

"Luuuuuucy," Happy began, in a mortified whisper. "What were you _thinking?_ "

"I know, I know," came her groan of despair. "I just couldn't let Erza be alone with that creep, that's all…"

"But now _we're_ alone with him."

"Yes. Yes, I did notice that. Thank you, Happy." Lucy glanced over her shoulder at Jellal, hoping he hadn't been able to hear their conversation, but it probably wouldn't have made much of a difference to his mood anyway. "Man, if looks could kill…" she muttered to herself, and then stopped in her tracks and clapped her hands to her cheeks. "Come on, Lucy. You can do this _._ "

She remembered how nice everyone had been to her when she had first joined Fairy Tail. Sure, she hadn't exactly trespassed in a friend's room or repeatedly threatened to close down the guild, but still…

Lucy loitered on the narrow mountain trail, waiting for her unwilling companion to catch up. There was no way he could avoid approaching her without making it obvious what he was doing, nor could he easily walk around her. Annoyance flashed in his eyes. "What?" he demanded, upon drawing level with her.

Lucy gave what she hoped was a friendly kind of shrug, and resumed walking steadily up the trail, one hand on the rocky wall to her right for support. "So, you said you do this kind of work for the Magic Council, right?"

Would he ignore a direct question? She could tell from the protracted silence that he was strongly considering it, but as she had hoped, the politically adept side of him would not allow such blatant yet trivial rudeness. "Used to," he grunted.

A one-sided interrogation was probably better than the awkward silence. Trying to sound politely curious, she asked, "You stopped?"

"When I joined the Council."

"Why?"

"It was hardly appropriate for a member of the Magic Council to do the kind of work that I was doing. They still give me jobs as a Wizard Saint from time to time, though."

"Doesn't the Council normally delegate all its mage work to the guilds?"

"Sometimes we do. Sometimes we don't."

Short, blunt or patronizing his answers may have been, but at least they were having a conversation. "Isn't that the whole point of the legal guilds, though?" Lucy persisted. "Why wouldn't the Council just give us the jobs?"

"Confidentiality."

"Oh, so if a mission involves state secrets or something?"

"Or forbidden magic. Or, sometimes the Council just wants to be certain that the job will be completed competently."

"Hey!" Lucy retorted. She wouldn't have minded so much if he was joking, but he was sullenly serious. "In Fairy Tail, we always complete the jobs we're given!"

"Yes, usually leaving behind you a trail of destruction ten times worse than the problem you were sent to fix. Not for much longer, though," Jellal added, a kind of dark cheer entering his voice at the thought. "In twenty-eight days' time, this guild will cease to exist." He glanced up at the sky, checking the position of the sun above the tallest peak in the range. "Make that twenty-seven and a half days."

"What if we prove you wrong?" Lucy challenged. "What if we complete this S-Class Quest without destroying anything?"

"I'd be amazed if you can even clear it, let alone without destroying half the town in the process."

"Well then, we'll just have to prove you wrong. We'll figure out what's going on in the town, we'll work out how to beat the wyvern, and we'll do it all without destroying anything – you mark my words."

"Go for it." A sardonic phrase which perfectly summed up the chances he thought they had of actually being able to pull it off.

Before she could come up with a suitably defiant retort, however, Happy called her name. On the steep slope, the flying cat had quickly outpaced the two humans, and he now glided back towards them to report. "There's a cave opening up ahead."

Lucy swallowed. "Hopefully it's not where that wyvern lives…"

She scrambled up the remaining rocks with Jellal close behind her and they emerged onto a ledge. To her left, the cliff face stretched up into the cloudless sky; to her right, there was nothing but a vertigo-inducing drop. From here, she could see down into the valley where Appenzell lay. She could only pray that, somewhere down there, Natsu and Erza were having a better time than she was.

The ledge itself was a couple of metres wide – not so narrow that there was a danger of falling by accident, but not so wide as to make her feel entirely safe. As Happy had said, one of the dark cave mouths that riddled this natural stone wall lay a little way further along. The opening was bigger than she was, but not as big as she remembered the wyvern being, and that gave her a little courage.

"Lucy, Lucy, look!" Happy was saying.

Around the opening, the rock face was covered in unfamiliar runes. Small, sharp cuts traced the pattern of ancient letters into the stone, lending an arcane touch to an otherwise natural scene. Was it a warning, or an invitation? The indecipherable text made the shadows of the cave seem somehow more ominous.

"What have you found?" Jellal asked.

"Ancient writing of some kind."

Glad that he was finally taking an interest in the mission, she stepped aside to let him take a look. He ran a finger over the impressions in the rock, tracing over the elegant lines with surprising care. There was a gleam in his eye that she hadn't seen before – it was a kind of thrill, she realized; emerging only when something happened that was interesting enough to capture his attention and distract him from the truth of his situation as the guild's prisoner. Maybe dragging him out on this mission had been a good idea after all.

And then he glanced at her, and his expression was once again mocking, and unnecessarily, deliberately, mean. "Ancient? Hardly."

Lucy folded her arms. She was certain she had seen Levy reading books written in this language before, and that was a sure sign it was something only learned scholars would bother with. "The alphabet is completely different to anything we use today on the continent."

"The language is ancient, true. But the writing is not. Look. It's carved into soft rock, and completely exposed to the elements, yet there is almost no sign of weathering. This isn't more than a few months old."

"…Oh."

Fortunately, Jellal had already lost interest in pointing out her mistakes. He tapped his finger against the rock face, and smirked. "Besides, the grammar is appalling. This was quite clearly written by someone trying to appear cool and mysterious, rather than someone preserving some ancient ritual. Superstitious fools."

"Siegrain," she inquired, "Do you understand these runes?" He said nothing, only began walking into the cave. "Hey, wait! What if the wyvern's in there?"

"It won't come this close to the surface," he called over his shoulder.

"Did the mysterious writing tell you that?" she muttered acidly, but he had already disappeared. She and Happy exchanged glances. "I guess we should go after him, then…"

The cave didn't look natural, but whether it had been dug by man or beast, it was difficult to say. When the daylight entering through the mouth of the cave became insufficient, Lucy removed the ring of celestial keys from her belt and raised them above her head, whereupon they began emitting a gentle golden glow. The uneven floor was littered with what she distinctly hoped were animal bones; she moved at a cautious walk, envying both Happy's wings and how at home Jellal appeared in the darkness. While the way that the tunnel widened as they progressed deeper into the mountains – rapidly becoming large enough for the wyvern to move through – was unnerving, the thought that it would reach her unfriendly companion first was somewhat reassuring.

Runes decorated the inside of the cave too. To Lucy's untrained eye, they looked the same as the ones outside, though she couldn't quite bring herself to ask Jellal for confirmation after how mean and patronizing he had been earlier. These ones, however, came with illustrations. Interspaced between the runic passages were rock-cut reliefs depicting scenes of sacrifice: human figures wrapped in ceremonial robes, chained to posts, being offered up to a great winged beast. She was certain that the monster descending to dismember, swallow whole, or carry off the living sacrifices in its claws was the wyvern they had fought.

Further ahead, the tunnel widened even further into the natural equivalent of a grand chamber, complete with stalactites, a lofty ceiling, and several more tunnels radiating outwards like spokes from a wheel. The only sound, aside from her echoing footsteps, was the distant dripping of water; she took a slight comfort from the fact that she would surely be able to hear the monster coming. The carvings continued into the vast cavern, though they only covered about half the circumference of the wall, as if whoever was inscribing them hadn't yet finished the job.

"Twenty-eight… twenty-nine… thirty." Lucy finished counting the number of images and nodded to herself. "One carving for each year since the wyvern killed Rosa's husband. They've been immortalizing the victims in these images."

She glanced over to her companion, hoping to get some sort of impressed response, but he just shrugged. "Obviously."

"Being able to read the runes is just cheating…" Lucy muttered to herself, but he was paying attention now; he heard every word.

"The writing didn't tell me anything I hadn't already worked out," Jellal replied coolly.

Lucy frowned. "You know, I don't think you've actually figured anything out at all. You're just bluffing."

"Oh?" He seemed more amused than annoyed by her suggestion. "Does nothing about this mission seem at all odd to you?"

Maybe it would have done, if she'd had the chance to sit down and think about it, but frankly, trying to be friendly towards this man without losing the will to live was taking all her concentration. "Like what?" she asked, exhaustedly.

"These images," he said, gesturing casually to the walls. "Nothing strikes you as unusual about them? Or the church down in the village? Or what about the point the cat raised earlier – if the wyvern can fly, why does it travel through underground tunnels instead? It's normal for creatures like that to nest in caves, but why would a beast of the sky choose to spend its whole life down in the dark?"

"Because of the hot springs?" Lucy tried bravely. "It likes the warmth?"

But to her dismay, he just shook his head. "That might explain why it chose _these_ tunnels over any others, but not why it would confine itself to the ground in the first place."

"…Is knowing any of this going to help us kill it?"

"Probably not," he mused. "But it might help your friends survive."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Happy challenged. "Are Natsu and Erza in danger?"

Jellal considered this for a moment. He obviously didn't want to help them, but on the other hand, Lucy had a growing feeling that he _did_ want to show off how smart he was.

Lucy cut in first. "Of course they're not, Happy. Pay no attention to him; he's just trying to scare us. Let's keep looking for clues." Deliberately, she turned her back on him, but not so quickly that she couldn't see the annoyed scowl cross his face at being ignored.

After a moment's stubbornness, her patience was rewarded. "Okay, then answer me this," Jellal said. "If this living sacrifice business has been going on for thirty years, why did they only send out the request to the mage guilds now?"

"…Ah." That was a good point. Lucy glanced at him, and he gazed impassively back. He wasn't expecting her to give in; he was expecting an answer. Alright, then. If it would get him to talk, she could play along. "Uh… maybe they do send out requests every year, and no one has been able to defeat the wyvern yet."

"It can't be that." It was Happy who responded, deep in concentration as he hovered in the air. "If the quest had been incomplete for so long, it would have been registered as a ten-year or even a thirty-year quest, not just an S-Class one. Gildarts does them all the time."

"The cat's right," Jellal added. "Plus, if that were the case, the village would have come onto the Council's radar long ago, and it hasn't."

"Then…" Lucy bit her lip. "Then why have they suffered in silence for so long?"

"That's the question I just put to you. Besides, why are you asking me? I thought you said that Fairy Tail was going to solve this one – and without destroying anything, no less?"

Lucy glowered at him. So much for this mission for being a chance to befriend him. He had been bad enough when he was tied to a chair in the middle of a guildhall; when he was completely in control of a bad situation, he was insufferable. But…

Not once since he had come to this guild had she known him to be so talkative. He looked like he was having fun. If it was fun at her expense, then so what? Hadn't that been the whole point of bringing him on this mission in the first place? Besides, Erza and Natsu would get to the bottom of this mystery, defeat the wyvern, and save the village. It wasn't as if she was going to make a difference here. She had nothing to lose by humouring him, for a little while.

"Yeah. We will solve it, you wait and see."

"Alright. Then, I'll give you a hint. Everything you need to understand the situation is in this cavern."

"That's not a hint. You _know_ I can't read the writing-"

"The writing is irrelevant," he overrode her calmly. "It doesn't say anything you can't also learn from the pictures."

"…Fine." Conscious of his gaze upon her, watching and judging her every move, she walked towards the closest relief carved into the rock. As she had seen him do, she ran her fingers along the groove comprising the outline of the wyvern's wing. The tactile sensation told her nothing she couldn't see with her eyes: the rock wall was every bit as rough as it looked; the sculpture work just as smooth and neat. She stepped back in order to view it fully. The human man tied to the post, his face contorted in fear; the great beast descending towards him, large, powerful, majestic, far more elegant in flight in the carving than it had been in real life.

"It's beautiful," Lucy said softly. "The image – it's horrible, but it's also beautiful. A lot of time was spent carving it… even though it's up in this cave, where no one can see it."

"So…?" Jellal prompted her.

The fact that he hadn't shot her down straight away meant that she was on the right lines, and she drew courage from that. "So-"

At that moment, a thunderous ringing sound filled the cavern. Happy let out a yelp; Lucy clapped her hands over her ears, screwing her eyes shut. It was the church bells – incredibly loud, and far too close. The bell tower was built into the very rock face they were currently inside, resonating through the stone and shaking the earth itself.

She couldn't hear Jellal's words over the ear-splitting noise, but she could guess them easily enough: "Too late." With that, he began to stride back towards the cave entrance.

Lucy glanced at Happy. Happy just shrugged back, so she set off after him at a jog, as the mountain trembled all around her.

Out in the open, the bells were still loud, but not as thunderous as they had been within the caves. Jellal had come to a stop on the ledge, watching the village below with his hands in his pockets. Lucy wasn't entirely comfortable with standing so close to the precipice, but she shuffled up just close enough to resume conversation over the ringing. "Siegrain, I've had a thought."

"Oh? Have you figured something out?"

She had wondered if he was going to use the development as an excuse to ignore her, but no – he was having too much fun for that. He clearly felt a great deal of resentment towards the guild, and by extension towards her, but even that wasn't enough to completely suppress his arrogance. He would interact with her in order to prove his superiority; he wanted to show off his deductive skills. If she kept playing on that, not only would he talk to her, but she could probably get him to tell her everything he had worked out.

"No, but I don't believe _you_ have either. Why doesn't the wyvern just eat everyone in the village? Why does it settle for one or two sacrifices a year, when that obviously isn't enough food for it to live off?"

"For the same reason it didn't attack me out in the meadow," came his cool response. "And why it lives in the tunnels rather than in the sky."

She glared at him, trying to appear riled by his expected smugness. "That's not an answer."

"Wrong. It is, in fact, _the_ answer."

Happy suggested, "Maybe it can't fight the entire village at once."

"Maybe, but not even Erza's blade could cut through its scales," Lucy countered. "There's no way the villagers would be able to defeat it."

"But wyverns aren't very smart," Happy pointed out. "Not like the dragon that raised Natsu. So maybe it doesn't _know_ that it could easily destroy the village."

Jellal gave Lucy a patronizing grin. "Ah, the cat beat you to it."

"So it's… scared of the villagers?"

"It might be fairer to say that it is scared of _everything._ "

"What…?"

He laughed aloud at the blank look on her face. "The wyvern is blind."

"What?"

"It didn't attack me in the meadow because it didn't know I was there. I imagine that it navigates by sound, and by detecting the motion of other creatures by the tremors they send through the earth – the only real reason why a winged creature would live and hunt in the tunnel network under the mountains, for those abilities would not be much use in the wide open spaces of the alpine pastures. With its size, it hardly needs precision. It was easy enough for it to fight against the three of you in the meadow simply by swiping at your approximate locations when you shouted at each other - which, conveniently for it, you seem to do an awful lot in battle. Imagine how much trouble you'd have been in if it had actually been able to see you."

Lucy tactfully ignored the jibe. "How did you work that out so quickly during the fight?"

"Because it missed." A calm, superior remark. "When it first attacked us from the sky, it should have been able to take out one of us, at least. An easy kill. But it failed. It hit the ground right between you and Natsu. No true aerial hunter would make that mistake. It's simple enough if you had stopped and thought about it, rather than seeing a monster and jumping straight in to the fight… but that's guild mages for you, I suppose."

"Who wouldn't fight back after being attacked out of the blue like that?" Happy retorted.

"Alright, so the wyvern is blind," Lucy butted in, trying to keep the discussion on topic while Jellal was being somewhat cooperative. "It likes being underground, where it can live and hunt safely. And it only comes out… when the bells are ringing," she concluded, with dawning comprehension. "They're so loud, and they're _inside_ the mountain – they overwhelm its senses and force it out into the open! That's why it attacked us in the meadow when the bells were ringing, and disappeared when they stopped, because we'd scared it and it wanted to get back underground, where it feels safe. And that's why this whole thing began when the church was built, thirty years ago. Before then, it had been living peacefully in the tunnels."

"Pretty much," Jellal confirmed. "You're smarter than you look."

Lucy had a feeling that wasn't supposed to be a compliment, so she kept quiet, and sure enough, he continued himself, "They ring the bells once a year to commemorate the first death. That chases the wyvern out of the tunnels… no wonder it attacks any humans it stumbles across. It only had to happen once or twice for the superstitious fools to perceive it as a sign from some obscure local god. Wyverns are far too stupid for the beast to have set all this up by itself. This was simply a coincidence that got out of hand."

As if on cue, a roar rose above the clanging of the bells, and the wyvern launched itself out from one of the caves far above them. Its wings snapped open; it climbed clumsily to the height of the tallest peaks, and began a slow lap of the valley. Lucy felt her heart beginning to pound with nerves. Logical analysis was easy to do when there were no enemies present – but it didn't change the fact that they still had to fight and win, did it?

A thought occurred to Lucy then. "But, hang on! All we've got to do now is explain the situation to the villagers and get them to stop ringing the bells, and the wyvern will stop coming out of the mountain! We can solve this problem without having to fight!"

"No, you can't."

"What do you mean, _no?_ "

"Even if you explain everything to the villagers, this will just carry on."

"Why?"

Infuriating as he was, Jellal chose to answer with another question. "You still haven't answered the question I put to you earlier. Thirty years of ritual sacrifice. Why wait until now to request the help of a mage guild?"

When Lucy was silent, Happy hazarded a guess. "Because they didn't want to admit they had made such a big mistake?"

"They don't know they're making a mistake. Even now, they don't know that the wyvern is as scared of them as they are of it."

"Because…" Lucy began, but she didn't finish her sentence.

Her eyes followed the wyvern in the sky as it banked sharply against the wind, fluttering its wings in an attempt to stay on course. It circled the village like an ungainly vulture, slowly closing in on the people below, where a commotion was beginning to pick up outside the church. The longer she watched, the more she had to agree that the beast was weak and awkward in the air. It flew like something unaccustomed to flying, which matched the hypothesis that it had been forced to a life underground by its handicap. Surely it should be more elegant than that – just as it had been in the reliefs she had seen in the cave.

They had been aesthetic: graceful; an idealized representation of the beast. Whoever had sculpted those images could have made it appear terrifying, or monstrous, or horrific… and they had chosen instead to make it beautiful. She thought about the church they had been in, with its conspicuous lack of recognizable religious paraphernalia, and wondered if the unusual design had been to honour an equally unusual deity, whose true shrine was too inaccessible for regular services.

"That cave we were in," she began thoughtfully. "It was a shrine, wasn't it? They fear the wyvern, but they don't hate it. They revere it. So why… _oh._ That's the answer to your question, isn't it?"

Happy said, "I don't follow."

"Why did they wait thirty years before asking anyone to destroy the wyvern and save their village? The answer is that they didn't. They don't _want_ to be free. This entire mission is a trap. They lured us here to use us as this year's sacrifices."

"Lucy, what are you saying?" Happy demanded, panic lacing his voice.

"Bingo," Jellal said coolly. "That didn't take you nearly as long as I thought it would. I suppose you expect me to congratulate you."

But she ignored this characteristically sardonic remark, instead rounding upon him in fury. "If you knew this was a trap from the start," she shouted, "Then why didn't you say anything?"

"Where would have been the fun in that?"

"But-!" Lucy shook her head in angry disbelief. "This means Natsu and Erza are in danger-"

"Quite possibly, yes."

"But…" Her fists were trembling at her side. Had she really been so caught up in solving the mystery that she had forgotten how much of a jerk this man was? Resisting the urge to scream at him with an effort, she turned to Happy instead. "I'm sure it'll be okay. Erza will have figured out what's going on. She won't be caught so easily."

"Erza's far too trusting," Jellal remarked, and just for a moment, a sinister smile touched his lips. "If they offered her drugged food, she wouldn't stand a chance."

"Then we've got to go and warn them-"

"It's too late for that." Infuriatingly calm, Jellal indicated the village below them with a nod of his head. "Look."

From this height, it was difficult to tell what was going on. As they watched, the crowd outside the church seemed to part to allow a small procession through to the front. They were carrying with them another figure who was thoroughly bound to a wooden post taller than he was. His clothes were obscured beneath the white ceremonial cloth they had thrown over him, but that sakura-pink hair could only have belonged to one person.

"Natsu!" Happy shrieked. "Lucy, we've got to do something!"

Gritting her teeth, Lucy reached for her celestial keys. She knew she could expect no help from Jellal, who was watching the scene unfurl below them with a delighted gleam in his eyes, and that meant it was up to her – but all she could see in her mind's eye was how easily the wyvern had shrugged off a combined attack from their entire team. She couldn't summon Loke while he was recovering, and if even he hadn't been able to damage the wyvern, she doubted any of her other Spirits would make a difference…

"It'll be alright, Happy," Lucy said nervously. "I can't see Erza anywhere, so maybe this is all some sort of ploy. Maybe they're using Natsu as bait to lure the wyvern down, and then she's going to leap out and slay it."

"One can only hope," remarked Jellal.

She shook her head in disbelief. "Does this not bother you at all? Natsu's probably going to die – and you just don't care?"

"Not really. Why would I? It'd be one less annoying Fairy Tail mage for me to deal with."

"You-" She would not dignify that comment with a response. Doing her best to put him out of her mind, Lucy focussed all her attention on the circling wyvern and scoured her brain for some way of driving it off. "There has to be _something…_ "

"Wait, Lucy, look!" Happy shouted. He was gesturing down into the valley.

"What is it?"

"It's Erza. She's been tied up too. I think they're going to sacrifice her as well."

"Erza too?" The last of Lucy's hope vanished. If Erza had been caught too, then there was no chance that this was all part of some plan. "Then it's over… No- oh, how stupid am I? Happy, I know how we can save them! Fly me up to the bell tower – I'll destroy the bells, and then you and I can lure the wyvern away from the others and back into the tunnels-"

"Erza…?"

At first, Lucy didn't recognize that voice. It was only because she knew Happy wouldn't have interrupted her plan that she could work out it was Jellal who had spoken, because he sounded completely different to usual.

The confidence and control with which he had been mocking her had completely vanished from his countenance; he seemed bewildered, perhaps even lost. For the first time since she and Levy had caught him snooping around in Erza's room, she thought he appeared vulnerable, as if he couldn't quite come to terms with what was going on.

He murmured, "Erza's going to be sacrificed… _by someone else?_ "

At that moment, with her friends trapped and helpless as death soared down towards them on grey-brown wings, Lucy could not deal with this man's incoherent muttering, and she rounded on him angrily. "What are you-?"

And she stopped just as abruptly. Jellal was gone. Where? How? She glanced left and right, but there was no trace of him, though he could not possibly have left the ledge without moving past her.

Just what she needed. Another mystery, as time ran out and she had to get to the bells-

"Lucy!" Happy's urgent whisper broke through her panic. "Look! Up in the sky!"

* * *

Why Erza?

It was not a question Jellal had ever stopped to consider before. It _had_ to be her. The truth of that statement was so self-evident that if anyone had tried to question it, they would have received a reaction more of scorn than of hostility.

No one had questioned it, of course. Simon, Sho, Wally and Millianna – they all understood that it would only be right if Erza was their sacrifice. Granted, that was at least in part because he had spent eight years convincing them that she was a traitor who had abandoned them to their fates in the Tower; they were motivated to some extent by revenge.

That suited him just fine. He had needed those four. No leader, no matter how powerful, or how feared, could keep control of a hate-filled dark cult completely by themselves, especially when said leader was often absent from the cult for long periods of time, busy tracking down rare magic or infiltrating the Magic Council. As far as Jellal was concerned, they could believe whatever they wanted, as long as they were loyal. If they stayed with him out of a hatred for Erza and a desire to see her suffer for what they believed she had done to them; well, that was fine by him. Revenge was a powerful motivator.

But for him, it was an entirely different matter. He did not want revenge upon Erza – how could he, when the traitor had been him all along? He did not hate her; no, he bore no animosity towards her at all. If anything, it was the opposite. Choosing her to be his sacrifice was the greatest honour he could afford her.

It had always been the two of them. Back when they had been children, slaves together in the terrible Tower, he had fought for her and she for him; the fates of two strangers entwined together in hope and in despair.

From her, he had learnt courage and strength, and the determination to stand tall when it seemed like all was lost. Because of her, he had experienced true despair, when everything had been taken from him in the pain and the torment and the truth he had found at the top of the Tower. How could he have understood hatred, if not for her love? Without her, he would never have been able to hear the voice that whispered to him in the darkness. The final victory at last within his grasp would have been impossible, if he had never met her.

And she was no different. It was because she had been fighting to save him that she had been able to awaken the immense power dwelling within her. It was because he had let her go that she had been able to leave the Tower, finding in her new guild the closest thing to a normal life that anyone who had grown up in that hell could ever hope for. It was because of her memories of him that she had thrown herself into training with magic as a means of forgetting, in the vain hope that strength alone would allow her to overcome the past that haunted her. Without the purpose his betrayal had given her, she could never have become such a powerful mage so young, just as he would never have earned the title of Wizard Saint without having such a great goal to drive him.

Their shared past was one she had never been able to fully escape from. It had shaped the woman she had become; it still influenced every decision she made. The way his mere presence could unsettle her so strongly was proof of that. She belonged to him, and he to her.

It was all for her. He owed her everything; a debt he would repay on the day she died at his hands.

She was the one around whom everything would turn. Every spark of life striving to push back the dark. Every tear shed in sorrow. Every vow of love and every promise of revenge; every prayer whispered and every miracle won. Every voice screaming its right to exist into the void. Everyone who had ever lived and who would ever live: every forgotten past and every possible future. The very edge of human existence, and all the hopes and dreams contained within it. By making her his sacrifice, the one upon whom the continued existence of all those things depended, he would place them all in her hands.

And then he would kill her, his revered sacrifice, and the Tower of Heaven would shine; and her dazzling existence would come to an end and the world would end with her.

If anyone had asked him why Erza, he might have given an answer along those lines. But no one questioned it, least of all himself. He neither had nor needed a conscious explanation for the certainty within him.

It had to be her. That she would be the one sacrificed followed from the simple fact that he was the one needing a sacrifice. For them, it brought everything full circle. There was no other way that this could end.

And that led to one more understanding: Erza was not allowed to die until she was safely within the Tower of Heaven.

And so he shot towards the sky, screaming the truth to the world: "Erza is not your sacrifice! She's _mine!_ "

* * *

"What in the world is that?"

At first, Lucy thought it was the sun. Surely nothing else in the sky could be bright enough to force her to raise her arm to shield her eyes – especially not during the middle of the day.

Except the sun had never seemed so big or so close before. Plus, she was pretty sure that, right now, the sun was behind them. So what was that light blazing high above them in the atmosphere… and why did it appear to be getting closer?

"A… fireball?" Happy guessed.

No mere fireball could be responsible for the shaking of the earth and the pressure in the air and the thunderous roar from up above. With a sharp intake of breath, Lucy answered her own question. "No, it's… a meteor. And it's heading straight for the valley."

In a way, it was fitting. A sudden and catastrophic natural disaster was pretty much the only way that this day could have got any worse.

Then again… if this really was a _natural_ disaster, what was the tremendous amount of magic power she could sense in the sky? This was no accident. This was someone's magic – and it wasn't Erza's or Natsu's. Surely the odds that someone in the village just happened to have such incredible magical strength were negligible; even in her own guild, she didn't think she had ever felt so much power in one place before. But that only left…

She dragged her attention away from the fiercely blazing sky and towards the valley below. The wyvern folded its wings and plunged towards the congregation of villagers as they rapidly scurried away from their sacrifices; the hunter's final dive. But there was something else: a figure cloaked in light, a glowing blur of speed, flying directly above it and mimicking all its motions with ease. One hand was stretched out in front of him; the other reached up to the celestial body hurtling towards them from the heavens. Just for an instant, that enormous blazing star hovered at Jellal's fingertips – and then he and it struck the wyvern from above, and all three of them smashed into the ground.

"I can't believe it…" Lucy murmured, her eyes open wide in awe – amazed not just because Jellal had hit the wyvern with a meteor, but at the fact that, after how he had been acting, he had actually done something to help. "Siegrain actually saved them…!"

And then Lucy's astonishment became outright jubilation, as all the fear of the past few minutes melted away. "He did it! Happy, come on, we've got to get down there!"

"Aye, sir!" Happy jumped into the air and picked up Lucy, and the two of them floated down into the valley. Lucy was expecting some sort of resistance from the villagers, but they all seemed to be in shock; certainly no one tried to stop her as she and Happy landed in front of their intended sacrifices. She hastily untied Erza's bonds, allowing her to Requip a sword and make short work of the ropes binding Natsu.

Not that Natsu was paying much attention to anything that was going on. Initially, Lucy thought he might have been suffering from the after-effects of whichever drug or magic had been used to subdue him, but he, like most of the villagers, was simply staring in total incredulity at the site of the impact. Through a stroke of good luck, or possibly careful calculation, the wyvern and its accompanying meteor had missed the crowd and instead landed straight on top of the church. The once-proud building, constructed in hope to become an embodiment of brutality, was a total wreck – and the shockwave had levelled all the houses in the vicinity. In the centre of the devastation, slowly standing up atop the corpse of the monstrous beast, was Jellal.

"…Did he just kill that wyvern in one hit?" Natsu breathed

Erza gave a calm shrug. "I did tell you he was a Wizard Saint."

"Yeah, but he's also on the _Council_. I figured the title must have been honorary or something…"

"It seems pretty well-earned to me," Happy supplemented.

"Damn it!" Natsu kicked the post he had been tied to in a sudden burst of anger. "I could've done that, if only the wyvern hadn't been resistant to fire! Now everyone's gonna think he's so great! And who uses their full power at the start of a fight anyway? It's just not right!"

Lucy and Erza exchanged reluctant smiles. Over in the ruins of the church, Jellal jumped down from the dead wyvern's back with a clatter of rubble. The glow of magic had faded from his body; once again, Lucy could sense hardly any power emanating from him, and she wondered just how much he was hiding. It didn't help that he appeared completely uninjured, despite the impact that had destroyed the wyvern.

There was a new hostility shining in his eyes. Any normal person would have been overjoyed at having achieved such a victory, while saving all their friends in the process. Jellal just looked irritated – probably at the fact that he had had to intervene, or maybe that all the Fairy Tail mages were still alive.

The villagers were watching his approach with obvious wariness, although it was clear from his demeanour that he wasn't at all interested in them. Guessing his mood, Erza volunteered, "I'll deal with this." The blade in her hand disappeared as she turned to address the gathered villagers – a gesture of peace, though it would do little to alleviate the tension.

"Now, as far as I see things," she began, "Sending out that request as a trap for mages is unforgiveable. However, it is also true that this village has been through a lot over the past thirty years, and none of that was truly your fault. Now that the wyvern that plagued this region has been killed, there will be no more sacrifices, either from the children of this village or from mages who have come to help. It's over now. Whatever you want to do from here on out, the choice is yours. Put the past thirty years to one side and move forward to a brighter future for all of Appenzell."

A murmur ran through the crowd. Natsu looked a little affronted by Erza's peaceful resolution of the whole living sacrifice affair, but Lucy supposed that when it came down to it, there had been no lasting harm done to any of them. Curious, she cast a sideways glance at Jellal to see what he thought of the matter, but he was still sulking.

Erza, mature in her role as the representative S-Class mage, continued, "To this end, I suggest a compromise. Regardless of what your true intentions were when you sent that job request to our guild, it has been completed. If you pay us the reward for the work we've done, we would be willing to overlook everything that happened here today."

Lucy felt certain that they were going to jump at Erza's offer, so she was surprised to see the Village Elder and several of the older members of the crowd form a huddle and begin whispering anxiously amongst themselves. It was several bemused minutes later that they finally turned back to the group of mages. Rosa stepped forward to deliver their verdict. There was a crafty glint in her eye, and Lucy didn't like it one bit.

"We would be more than willing to accept your proposal. There is, however, one major problem." She pointed her gnarled walking stick directly at Jellal. "Him."

"Huh?" No one was more surprised by that than Jellal himself. "Me?"

"Yes. You destroyed our church."

Irritated, Jellal folded his arms. "I also solved your little wyvern problem."

"True, but that does not erase the damage that you have done to our village."

Jellal's predictably caustic retort was interrupted when Natsu gave a low whistle. "Ooh, Councillor!" he crowed in delight. "Did you just cause accidental property damage while out on a job?"

"What-?"

Natsu clapped him on the back approvingly. "See how easy it is for guild mages to destroy things by accident?"

"But I killed the damn wyvern! How can they possibly be complaining?"

"I know! It's _really_ annoying when that happens, isn't it?"

"The reward for the mission we sent out was one million jewels," Rosa continued smugly. "However, when you deduct the cost of repairs to the church, importing the raw materials to our isolated little village, the damage to our livelihoods and economy caused by the destruction, and not to mention the cost of filling in that enormous crater you created in the middle of our town… Well, I think you'll find that Fairy Tail owes _us_ one million jewels."

"…Ah," said Natsu.

"Ah," said Erza.

"Ah," said Happy.

The three of them looked at each other. "Time to go," Natsu breezed, and then they were fleeing the village as fast as they could.

"What…?" was all Jellal managed.

As the angry villagers advanced upon him, Lucy grabbed his arm. "You're going to want to run," she told him, with something of an apologetic smile – and that was all the warning he got before she was pulling him along the path back towards the mountains.

And so Fairy Tail made their inglorious exit from Appenzell.

* * *

Makarov was waiting for them outside the guildhall.

He did not look happy. There was an open envelope in his hand; it seemed the news had reached Magnolia faster than they had.

As Erza, Lucy, Natsu and Happy trudged to a stop in front of him, Jellal lurking somewhere behind with his usual apathy, the old Master's eyebrows knitted together alarmingly. "And what do you five have to say for yourselves?"

Erza stepped forward bravely. "Ah, Master," she began, putting on her best light-hearted tone. "We have successfully completed the S-Class Quest. We have saved the village and returned safely-"

He brandished the envelope towards her like a sword. "You call _this_ a success? One million jewels! How on earth are we going to pay for all the damage you've caused? I expected better from you, Erza – and Natsu, you're already on your final warning. I simply cannot tolerate this irresponsible behaviour any more-"

"Actually," Natsu interrupted, with an irrepressible grin, "It wasn't us this time. Isn't that right, Siegrain?"

"Huh?" Jellal snapped.

Erza shrugged. "Natsu's right. Siegrain was the one who did all the damage."

"Aye," agreed Happy.

"Yeah, this time, it kind of was him…" added Lucy.

Natsu patted the councillor amicably on the shoulder, ignoring the furious glare he got in return. "Good luck." He turned to the others, adding brightly, "I'm starving. Let's go find something to eat."

"Hey- _hey!_ " Jellal yelled, as the four of them disappeared inside the guildhall. "Get back here!" But they had already gone, leaving him and the stern Guild Master alone in the street.

He looked at Makarov. Makarov looked at him.

The old man began, "I am _very_ disappointed in you, Councillor Siegrain."

"You have got to be kidding me," Jellal muttered. "I bloody _hate_ this guild."

* * *

It was some time later that Lucy found Erza sat at one of the tables in the guildhall, carefully polishing her armour. She seemed to be lost in thought; she didn't notice Lucy's approach any more than she had noticed the brawl going on in one corner of the room.

"Hey, Erza," Lucy greeted her, before sitting down opposite her friend. "Is everything alright? You seem unusually quiet this evening."

With a sigh, Erza set the gleaming breastplate down on the table. At the sight of Lucy's anxious face, reflected in the burnished metal, she couldn't help giving a soft smile. "I'm fine, Lucy. Really."

"Are you sure?" Lucy persisted. "How are your injuries?"

"Fine. They weren't too serious; I'll be alright by tomorrow." Lucy still looked doubtful, so Erza decided to change the subject. "Say, do you know where Siegrain is?"

"Last I saw, he was still getting yelled at. I think the Master was enjoying it a little too much…"

Erza gave a chuckle. "I suppose I do feel a bit guilty, abandoning him to face the Master like that. After all, he did save Natsu and I."

"Well, Happy and I had the situation covered; he just happened to get there first," Lucy insisted stubbornly. "Still, you know, Erza… On that mission, he worked out what was going on really quickly. It might have saved us a lot of trouble if he had told us what he discovered straight away, but… I honestly think he just wanted us to work it out for ourselves."

"Is that just the relief talking?" Erza inquired, a little sceptically.

"Perhaps. But even so… he might have been smug, but trying to solve the mystery with him wasn't all that bad an experience, and it worked out in the end. I feel as though I learnt a lot, as well. I don't think he's actually as bad as he likes to make out."

Erza said nothing. Feeling inexplicably nervous, Lucy continued, "And, there's something else. When the wyvern attacked and Natsu was in trouble, Siegrain wasn't going to help. He claimed he wouldn't, anyway; I think he might have stepped in at the last minute. But the moment he learned that you were in danger, he destroyed the wyvern straight away. He might be a jerk sometimes, and rude, and arrogant… but I think he really does have a thing for you."

"I… No, I'm sure he was just acting as a responsible Wizard Saint and helping the guild mages who were in trouble."

"I think there's more to it than that. He does seem awfully keen on spending time with you, what with dragging you on this mission today, and wanting to walk home with you the other night…"

"I really don't know why that would be." Erza sounded almost lost. "I hardly know him at all, Lucy. I don't see how he could feel that way."

"There's really nothing you can think of that could explain why he seems so interested in you?"

"Well…" Erza's gaze slipped sideways, but she could hardly ignore such a direct question. "He has a twin brother, whom I used to be quite close to," she mumbled. "But I haven't seen him in ages."

"Oh. This would have been back before I joined the guild, right?"

"It was before _I_ joined the guild."

"That long ago? Where were you before you came to Fairy Tail? How did you meet this guy?"

Intrigued by the thought of learning something about her friend's past, Lucy was leaning forwards, her eyes sparkling with anticipation – and when Erza suddenly stood up, she jumped a mile.

"I don't want to talk about it," Erza snapped. And with that, she turned on her heel and strode away, leaving Lucy staring after her in astonishment.

* * *

As it happened, Erza didn't get far. In her haste to get away, she wasn't paying attention to where she was going, and she hadn't even made it out of the guild's grand hall when she walked right into Jellal.

He had been busy minding his own business, lurking in the shadows at the edge of the hall, when he stepped out from behind a pillar and found himself face to face with Erza. He noticed her; she, apparently, did not notice him, and completely failed to stop in time.

"Sorry," she mumbled, to the ground. "I wasn't watching where I was-" She chose that moment to glance up to see who she had collided with, and her eyes widened. "Siegrain!"

"Erza," he said quietly, unsure of what to make of her distracted mood. That absentmindedness would have make it the perfect opportunity to kidnap her, if they hadn't been stood in the middle of the guildhall, with potential witnesses everywhere. It was unusual for Erza to act like this. It couldn't have been his presence that triggered it this time, so why was she behaving so strangely?

Unsurprisingly, she didn't explain herself. She just murmured another apology before stepping round him and continuing on her way.

Well, that was weird.

Still, if it wasn't an opportunity to kidnap her, Jellal wasn't interested. Shrugging to himself, he walked off in the opposite direction, only to pause at the sound of his name. This time, Erza ran directly towards him, and stopped right in front of him. The moment of vulnerability had passed; she was once again in control of herself. Her armour was back in place.

"Actually," she said, and a semblance of normality had returned to her voice. "I'm glad I ran into you. I wanted to say thank you, since I never got the chance earlier."

"What for?"

"For saving us, of course." She gave him a genuine smile. "We would have been in trouble on that mission without you. So, thanks for helping us out."

An icy retort about the group's incompetence was on the tip of his tongue, but he caught himself just in time. He had to keep up the pretence that he was a perfectly respectable member of the Magic Council, for whom the outcome of the mission – with the monster destroyed and the village freed of its history – would have been a desirable one. He had let himself get a bit carried away when with Lucy earlier, but he had to be more careful around Erza – if she suspected him, it would only make getting her alone more difficult.

So he just shrugged again, as if it was of little concern to him. "That's alright." Then, on impulse, he added, "I was only doing my job as a mage, anyway."

"Even so, I'm grateful."

She looked a little happier than before. Jellal had an instinct for reading people, without which he would never have been able to get to where he was today – and it assured him that the new light in her eyes was completely honest, even if he couldn't quite explain it. As far as he was concerned, admitting her weakness as a mage in front of her enemy was not something to be cheerful about. Though, at least it implied she didn't suspect he was her enemy.

Running with that thought, he queried, "Were you about to head home?"

"Ah, no, I can't leave the guild yet." That embarrassed smile, with her hands clasped together in front of her, made her seem a world away from the fierce warrior he had observed from afar over the years. If anything, that gentle kindness reminded him of when they had struggled to survive together in days long gone. So, that side of her still existed.

"Sorry," she was saying. "I promised Mira that I would stay behind to help her and the Master come up with a financial plan for how we're going to handle the damages we owe to Appenzell."

She must have misinterpreted the dismay on his face, because she added, "Oh, no, I'm not trying to blame you for what happened! These things happen all the time in this guild. Far more often than we'd like, in fact. You know, in a list of the most damage done to property by Fairy Tail mages in a single day, I don't think that today would even make the top ten."

"I am well aware of your guild's track record, believe me."

Erza gave a self-conscious chuckle. "Ah, I imagine that you are. All I'm trying to say is… we're used to this, so don't take the Master too seriously. As I said, we're all grateful for what you did, so don't feel bad about the repair costs."

"I wasn't," he replied, utterly mystified by the sentiment.

"Good." They looked at each other for a moment. "Well, I ought to go and find Mira, so I guess I'll see you tomorrow."

"I guess so."

She walked off, and so did he. If Erza was going to be spending the entire evening looking over the guild accounts with Makarov, then he could rule out kidnapping her right now. He'd be better off going home and getting some rest, and he could try to come up with a better plan for tomorrow while he was at it.

Deep in thought as he left the guildhall, he didn't notice how Erza had stopped to watch him go, or the confused expression that had returned to her countenance.

* * *

Jellal was almost halfway home when he felt the familiar sense of the communication lacrima trying to attract his attention. Once a furtive glance around the sunset-bathed streets revealed that there were no other people in sight, he withdrew the orb from his pocket and gave it a baleful look. He recognized that presence: Ultear. She was probably the last person he wanted to talk to right now, but she was also the one person that he couldn't afford to ignore, just in case it was important news about their schemes.

With the distinct feeling that a bad day was about to get a whole lot worse, he opened the mental connection. "What?" he demanded, by way of a greeting.

His hostility never seemed to faze her. "Hey there, Jellal. How's the kidnapping going?"

"It's going _fine_. Everything is under control."

"Sure. It's just, I can't help but notice you've been in Magnolia for three days now, and you have yet to procure a sacrifice for the Tower of Heaven…"

"I'm working on it," he grumbled. "It's not so simple. Erza's in close proximity to her guild every minute of every day. Even if I could seize her from under their noses, if I'm not very careful, they'll suspect something if she's gone for too long, and I don't want to go up against the entirety of this guild and their Master. From what I've seen of Fairy Tail, once they've worked what's going on, they'll tear down the entire Tower I spent eight years building in a matter of minutes. Probably by accident."

"Perhaps you should change your tactics, then. Invite her out somewhere."

"I tried that. Lucy and the others look like they'll tag along on every job we do."

"…I wasn't talking about guild work, Jellal," Ultear cut in, somewhat exasperatedly. "You've been getting close to her, right? Ask her out somewhere in the city. If she says yes, the others would know better than to follow you. Plus, if Erza doesn't return to the dorms that evening, no one will suspect a thing. They'll just assume the day went well… if you know what I mean."

"I don't think I follow you."

"You're sweet, Jellal," Ultear laughed.

He had the sneaking suspicion that she was making fun of him. Uncomfortable, he snapped, "Look, is there something you wanted, or did you just call me to have a good laugh at my situation?"

"Mmm." There was a lilting tone to her voice, as if she couldn't decide whether to keep teasing him or start taking things seriously. "I hear you destroyed a village today."

"I destroyed _half_ a village. And I still don't understand what all the fuss was about. I knew there was no one _in_ the church. I could have landed in the middle of the crowd if I'd wanted." A thought occurred to him, and his eyes narrowed slightly. "How do you know about that, anyway?"

"Because, in case you've already forgotten how all this works, when that village filed a formal complaint in order to charge the repair bills to your guild, it went to the Council," she pointed out. "Apparently, you caused quite a bit of damage."

"Ah. Does the Chairman know?"

"No, I intercepted the report." He gave a grunt of thanks. "The rest of the Council will find out soon enough, though. And this could be a problem, Jellal," she added, as a sharp edge entered her voice. "The Chairman will not be pleased when he hears of this. A complaint against your conduct is damaging to the reputation of the whole Council. And now is not the time for you to be falling out of favour with the Council…"

He gave a low growl. "I know that. I'll deal with it."

"I'll only be able to keep this off the Chairman's desk for a day or two at the most," she warned him.

Jellal stopped walking in the middle of the street and glanced up at the sky. There was still an hour or so before the sun's light faded completely. It had taken the best part of a day for the group to make the round trip to Appenzell, but he knew he could do it in a fraction of the time if he was alone. He had no need to rely on anything as mundane as public transport, after all.

Well, it wasn't as if he had anything better to do. And if there was anything that could make him feel a little better after the dreadful day he had had, surely it was this. Over the past three days, he had been pushed around far too much by people he considered below him. Being the one doing the bullying would make a nice change.

"Yeah, I know," he told her. "I'll go right now and get them to retract their complaint."

He sensed her faint amusement through the telepathic link. "What are you planning?"

"Oh, nothing much. Just thought I might go and show them why having half a village is better than having no village at all."

"And that's the Jellal I know," Ultear remarked approvingly. "I'll leave it to you, then."

With that, she terminated the conversation. Jellal returned the lacrima carefully to his pocket. And in the next moment the street was empty and a streak of light was tearing through the sky, as he soared towards the mountains for the second time that day.

* * *

 ** _A/N:_** _Regarding the last two chapters, I apologize to those who don't like Lucy. I actually like her quite a lot, so she isn't going anywhere. Unlike many characters, she actually has some common sense, and enough people skills to realize that getting through to Jellal in the normal way might be impossible, but if she's willing to swallow her pride (as many wouldn't) she can almost trick him into interacting with her. It may not seem like much right now, but it's a start. As I mentioned in the first chapter, this story isn't *exclusively* going to be about Jellal and Erza (very much getting back to them next chapter though, don't worry...). The supporting cast will rotate a fair bit too, so the fact that Lucy has had quite a big role in this event means that she's unlikely to feature too much in the next few chapters._

 _I suppose this pair of chapters was about two main things. First, "why Erza?" I can't stress enough that that thought process of Jellal's is all subconscious, but I wanted a go at articulating it anyway. His feelings towards her at this moment in time are complex, possessive, and really quite screwed up. The reason why he doesn't click with what Ultear is implying at the end isn't because he's naïve or innocent, because he's neither of those things. If anything, I think it's because the incredibly strong feelings he has towards Erza are so far detached from conventional romance that it actively prevents him from making that connection. That's the serious side of this._

 _On the less serious side, the second thing: Lucy, that is about the worst way in which you could possibly have misinterpreted Jellal's actions. Oh dear. And on that note, that's quite enough seriousness in this story for the time being. Tune in next week as the misunderstandings begin... ~CS_


	5. First Date

**Kidnapping Erza**

By CrimsonStarbird

* * *

 **Chapter Five: First Date**

"Good morning, Lucy!"

Lucy had barely made it through the door of the guildhall before Erza bounced towards her. Taken aback, it was a good moment or two before she could return the greeting towards the older mage, who, as far as she was concerned, was standing a little bit too close. "Hi, Erza. You're… very lively today."

"Hmm, hmm." Erza nodded twice. "How was your walk to the guildhall this morning?"

"Umm… uneventful?"

"Did you, perhaps, walk alongside the canal, whose system was planned around two hundred years ago by the renowned surveyor William Smith, after he won a competition put forward by Magnolia's Mayor to improve the city's infrastructure?"

Lucy stared at her in utter perplexity. "Well, I do live right next to the canal, so it would be pretty difficult for me to get anywhere without walking alongside it for a bit, though I have no idea why-"

"Perhaps you crossed over the canal at the Bridge of Vows, where, for the past thirty years, newlyweds have written their marriage vows on pieces of card and thrown them into the water for luck; a tradition started during the wedding of Mr and Mrs Brown, when a storm wind blew open the doors of the church, ripped the prompt cards out of the vicar's hand, and carried them into the river."

"Umm, no, it's closed because of storm damage at the moment, so I crossed on the bridge further south, but again, Erza, why-"

"Ah, then you must have walked past Kardia Cathedral, the only cathedral in the kingdom with five full-sized stained glass windows-"

"Erza!" Lucy shouted. Judging by how only a couple of people in the guildhall even looked over at her shout, before shrugging and quickly returning to what they had been doing, Lucy guessed she was not the first person to have experienced this bizarre confrontation this morning. "What on earth are you doing? Did you swallow a guidebook or something?"

"Of course not. Don't be silly. The guidebook is right here." Erza pulled out the _Pocket Guide To Magnolia_ that she had been holding behind her back and waved it in front of Lucy's face. Catching sight of the open page, she hastily corrected herself, "Ah, no, wait, Kardia Cathedral has _six_ stained glass windows. I'll have to remember that."

Relieved that her friend seemed to have stopped the bombardment of facts, Lucy wondered, "Erza, what's all this about? You're not thinking of getting a part-time job as a tour guide, are you?"

"No, nothing like that. Siegrain asked me to show him around the city today, so I thought I ought to brush up on my local knowledge, that's all."

"…Erza, I don't think a tour of the city's landmarks is really what he meant by that."

"It isn't?"

"Well, he's just started living here, hasn't he? He was probably thinking you'd be able to show him where the local grocery shops are, and the launderettes, and the station, and the best cafés in the area – you know, that sort of thing."

"…Oh." Erza actually sounded disappointed. "Well, I suppose that will make this a lot easier…"

Only, now that Erza's misunderstanding had been cleared up, the full weight of her words could sink in. Lucy's eyes opened wide. "Hang on a minute. Doesn't this mean that you and Siegrain are going on a da- a da-"

"A day off?" Erza finished for her. "Yes, but I spoke to the Master and he said he didn't mind if I took the day off work today."

"A date!" Lucy burst out. "Isn't this a date?"

"Don't be silly, Lucy. Of course it isn't. It's just me giving our guild's newest member a tour of the city."

"Yes, it _is_ a date! Erza, Siegrain _definitely_ has a thing for you. Even putting aside the whole saving you from the wyvern thing, it was your room we caught him in in the first place, and besides, he is _always_ staring at you, especially when he thinks no one is watching him. I bet this whole tour guide thing is just an excuse to spend time with you."

Erza's response was completely calm. "You're reading far too much into this. He only asked me to show him round because I know him best out of everyone in the guild. He said so himself."

"Erza, think about this-"

Lucy never got the chance to finish her protest. Erza's gaze darted to somewhere over her shoulder and Lucy's instincts warned her to stop talking immediately. Turning, she saw Jellal approaching the two of them.

She scrutinized him intently. He was wearing the same long white overcoat he had worn to the guild every day so far, which seemed to imply he hadn't dressed up for this day out with Erza, though of course it was impossible to tell whether he was wearing his usual battle gear underneath or a casual outfit instead. Erza was wearing her armour as always, though by the sounds of things she wouldn't recognize a date if it hit her in the face, so that was nothing to go by.

"Are you ready to go?" Jellal asked of Erza.

She snapped the guidebook shut and set it down on a nearby table. "Yes. Let's go."

Lucy watched suspiciously as they began to walk side by side towards the door, with Erza immediately launching into an excitable narrative about the founding of Magnolia that rapidly faded from her hearing. "Not a date, my foot," she grumbled.

Struck by a sudden idea, she scanned the interior of the guildhall, hoping that the people she was looking for hadn't left to start work yet. Sure enough, Levy, Jet and Droy were over by the Request Board, and she was able to intercept them before they could leave. "Levy! We've got a problem!"

"Is it urgent?" Levy gestured to her teammates. "We were about to head out on a job."

"Erza and Siegrain are going on a date!"

"WHAT?" A look of abject horror crossed Levy's face. "Erza, on a date with that pervert? Not on _my_ watch."

"I don't think he's _that_ bad…"

"I am not leaving my friend alone with someone who broke into her room! Who knows what sort of perverted things he'll try if they're alone together? If that creep wants to get to Erza, he has to go through me." She turned to Jet and Droy, and pushed the job request firmly into the latter's hands. "You two go on without me today. I'm needed here."

Jet and Droy exchanged nervous glances, but neither of them were about to disobey a direct – and fearsome – request. Muttering something about a friendly Levy they used to know, the two of them slunk away to complete the job alone.

Satisfied, Levy turned back to Lucy, adding matter-of-factly, "Erza's completely clueless when it comes to things like this. As her friends, it is our duty to spy on them and make sure he doesn't get the chance to pull anything inappropriate."

Lucy's half-hearted defence of Jellal didn't put up much of a fight against her curiosity. "Okay, fine. Let's follow them. I wonder if Mira-"

"I heard everything," Mira interrupted. Lucy recognized the voice instantly; it took her another moment or two to associate it with the figure who had suddenly popped out from behind the Request Board. Mira was wearing a pair of comically large sunglasses, which, combined with the wide-brimmed cartwheel hat she had pulled down low on her forehead, were doing an effective job of concealing her identity from casual onlookers. "Let's do this."

"Nice getup, Mira," Lucy remarked approvingly. "You're a pro at this, I see."

"Surveillance is a very serious business, Lucy."

"Oh, we are serious about this, trust me," Levy returned. "Ready? Let's go and keep an eye on Erza."

* * *

Day five.

Still a member of Fairy Tail; still hadn't kidnapped Erza. Though, Jellal had high hopes that by the end of the day, he'd be able to revise both of those statements.

Acting on Ultear's advice, he had asked Erza to give him a tour of the city. It was an innocuous enough request – she certainly hadn't suspected anything, and, since it would have been rude for her to refuse a direct appeal for help without good reason, she had had no choice but to agree. Now it was just a simple matter of waiting until they reached a part of town without any witnesses around, and then he could take her by surprise, knock her out, and carry her to the Tower of Heaven. Simple.

Both of them had the entire day off from guild work. No one would suspect a thing if neither of them returned to the guildhall that day, and with any luck, by the time anyone noticed Erza hadn't gone home to the dorms either, they would have no hope of tracking him, and the process to fire Etherion would be well under way. As long as he was patient, his chance would come before the day was up.

And so he had left the guildhall with Erza, feeling optimistic for the first time in five days.

It had taken all of about thirty seconds for his good mood to be ruined.

That was how long it had taken him to work out they were being followed, anyway. He hadn't put two and two together at first. He had many enemies, and on both sides of the playing field: Wizard Saint Siegrain was as much the bane of dark mages everywhere as Master of the Tower Jellal was of the Magic Council and the Rune Knights. It certainly wouldn't be the first time he had been stalked and ambushed while going about his day-to-day life as a councillor.

Only, when he thought about it, the speed with which they had picked up his trail implied that they had followed him out of the guildhall – and that meant they were members of his guild. That realization was enough to instantly evaporate his good humour. There was nothing so bad that it couldn't be made worse by adding Fairy Tail mages.

Under normal circumstances, he'd have disappeared into a side street, used his magic to get up onto the rooftops before his pursuers rounded the corner, and either observed them until he knew what they wanted and who they were working for, or taken them out and interrogated them later. Neither of those were feasible options when Erza was around. Besides, if 'don't attack your fellow guild mages' wasn't one of the implicit rules of the guild Makarov was holding him to, he'd have incapacitated the entire guild one by one and put an end to this farce already.

Erza didn't appear to have noticed their pursuers yet. She was too preoccupied with rambling on about the first mayor of Magnolia, or some other such nonsense that Jellal had stopped paying attention to the moment he had noticed their stalkers. If he hadn't known better, he'd have said that she was nervous, and that talking out loud was helping her to stay calm. There was nothing he could think of which might have explained _why_ she felt nervous, though; especially not if she hadn't noticed they were being followed. _He_ was slightly on edge, of course, but that was only because he knew he was going to have to execute his plan before too long, and there was no more room for failure.

Having guild mages on his tail was a problem if he was supposed to be running off with his sacrifice. Even worse, if Erza noticed them, she would undoubtedly grow suspicious if he was too intent on losing them, and then she'd have her guard up around him, and that would only make it more difficult for him to kidnap her…

Right, then. There was only one way out of this. He had to lose their followers, and he had to do it without Erza noticing.

He had the distinct feeling that this whole kidnapping Erza business had just become a lot more difficult.

* * *

First, Jellal had to work out who was following them. Knowledge was power: if he knew the magic they used and its limitations, he could better come up with a counterplan. He couldn't turn to look at them without making it obvious, but if he concentrated, he could detect the distinctive latent magic of his pursuers and identify them that way.

The first magical presence he could sense belonged to Lucy. Having almost been drowned by one of her Spirits before, he was familiar enough with her magic to recognize it immediately. The second he wasn't so certain about, though he was confident enough to provisionally put it down as Levy's, and the accusing glare he could feel burning into his back as he walked seemed to confirm that hypothesis.

The third, however, was causing him more problems. It wasn't just that he didn't recognize it, but that he couldn't pin it down at all. For the most part he could sense nothing at all – full concealment being the mark of a highly competent mage like him – and then, occasionally, when his attention was elsewhere, there it was: something huge and creepy and utterly unrestrained right at the edge of his senses, yet gone the moment he tried to focus on it. Interesting. He doubted the user was doing that on purpose, which suggested that there was something wrong with their magic. The obvious anomaly was the only reason why the sheer magnitude of it wasn't bothering him. Still, it didn't help him work out which of the Fairy Tail mages he had briefly met it belonged to.

He needed a closer look. The residential streets they were walking down didn't have the large glass fronts so convenient for checking reflections in that he would have found in the central business district, so that meant he'd have to-

"Siegrain?"

He jumped a mile at the sound of Erza's concerned voice. With all his attention focussed on their pursuers, he hadn't noticed Erza had stopped in her tracks.

Turning to face her, he caught sight of the three followers over her shoulder as they dived for cover. That brief glance confirmed he had been right about Lucy and Levy, and as for the third… the oversized hat and sunglasses made it slightly trickier, but she also happened to be wearing the exact same dress Mira had been wearing when he had asked her and the Master for a day off that morning.

Heh, amateurs.

Actually, that was a point. He had assumed they were on to him, but if the guild suspected that Erza was in danger, surely they'd have sent mages with appropriate stealth magic after him, rather than three inexperienced girls it had taken him less than a minute to spot.

So what were they doing here? Were they just being nosy?

This was _precisely_ why he hated guild mages.

"Are you alright?" Erza was asking.

She seemed genuinely concerned. That was no good. He couldn't have her suspecting something was wrong. He dragged his attention away from the side alley where the three girls were hiding with an effort. "Why wouldn't I be alright? Everything's fine."

"It's just…" Her gaze slid anxiously down to the floor. Her uncertainty was back. "You're being awfully quiet, that's all…"

"I'm just thinking," he replied truthfully. "I'm fine. Let's keep going."

With that, he tried to carry on walking, only to be called back again by Erza's shout. She was pointing over to their right. "The old watchtower is that way."

Ah. He had agreed to make that the first stop on their tour back when his only goal had been kidnapping, but an ancient ruin without anyone else around was pretty much the worst location he could choose for shaking pursuers. They needed to go somewhere busy. "Actually, I think it would be best if we went to the town centre first."

Surprise registered on Erza's face, which quickly became a smile. "Lucy was right. You really don't care about all the history stuff, do you?"

That excuse would do. "Not really, no."

"Okay, then. Let's go into town."

Erza fell into step beside him, and he heard the faint clatter of footsteps as the three girls emerged from their hiding place and resumed their stalking. He couldn't help letting out a low growl. Those girls were sorely mistaken if they thought their mere presence would be enough to stop him. If they wanted to fight, he would be more than happy to oblige them.

Lucy, Levy and Mira were his opponents.

Magnolia's shopping district would be their battlefield.

Erza would be the prize.

"Still," Erza murmured to herself. "Just because Lucy was right about this doesn't mean she was right about the other thing."

"What other thing?" Jellal asked.

"It doesn't matter."

* * *

"…And this is probably the closest launderette to your house."

"Ah." Jellal regarded the small shop that Erza was pointing to on the other side of the street. "I was going to use the one on Banbury Road, but I think you're right, this one is nearer… by a couple of minutes' walk, would you say?"

"About five minutes."

Jellal nodded to himself as he made the appropriate adjustments to the map he was building in his head. Shorten this street, lengthen that one – two unconnected turnings suddenly joined up, and an entire section of his street map fell into place.

In Magnolia, a town he had only moved to five days ago and not spent much time exploring thereafter, Levy, Mira and Lucy had an enormous home advantage. They surely knew every main road, every shortcut, and every dead end in the city centre; in their secret game of cat and mouse, local knowledge like that would make all the difference. His first two attempts to shake them off had been effortlessly foiled – the first time because the girls had cut through a side street to overtake them, and the second because he had accidentally led Erza straight into a cul-de-sac while trying to escape.

However, he had a secret weapon: Erza. With every passing minute, he was using her unwitting help to construct a reliable mental map of the surrounding area, ready to make a break for it and lose the girls the moment his repeated failures had led them into a false sense of security.

And speaking of Erza, she had apparently started to relax a little now that he was interacting with her more, especially after he had told her how helpful she was being. Good. The more she let her guard down, the less likely she was to notice anything was wrong.

"…Cheaper than the other one, as well," she was saying. "Though the Banbury Road launderette does have dry cleaning services, which might come in handy if you have any Council formalwear with you."

Jellal nodded, not really listening. "What's down there?" he inquired, gesturing over his shoulder.

"An industrial park, I think – offices, maybe the odd warehouse, that sort of thing. I've never been down there. It's a dead end."

He marked that route off on his mental map as useless. No, wait – if that was the same industrial complex he had glimpsed a few minutes ago… and if that wire fence he could see surrounding the park was the same fence he could see from the road adjacent to his… Another area of the map slotted into place. Whole new routes were now open to him. A plan formed in his mind; light sparked in his eyes.

"Right then," he said. "Pop quiz time."

"Pop quiz…?" Erza wondered. "Shouldn't I be the one testing you…?"

"Say I urgently need something washing. How quickly do you think I could get from my flat to here?"

"…Seven or eight minutes, maybe?" she guessed, as baffled by his actions as Lucy had been by hers earlier.

"Bet I can do it in five."

"I suppose, if you ran-"

And that was exactly what he did – just began sprinting without warning towards an alleyway on the other side of the road. "Siegrain!" she shouted after him, alarmed; he gestured impatiently for her to follow. As he had hoped, her curiosity overcame her uncertainty.

She was just as athletic as he was; provided he didn't use his magic, he knew she'd be able to keep up easily. He wove through the side streets with her hot on his heels. Stray cats scarpered at the sound of their footsteps. His guess as to the layout of the back alleys was perfect – he swerved around skips, jumped overflowing dustbins, and dived between the houses; not missing a single turning before slipping through a ginnel and emerging-

Onto a street that was very much not the one he had been expecting.

"That's odd," Erza remarked, coming to a halt at his side. "A street full of hotels. How unusual."

This was supposed to be his road, a few houses down from his own apartment. He should have been able to invite Erza in to look around, having left their pursuers in the maze of backstreets; there to wait until the girls had given up and returned to the guild before kidnapping her and taking her to the Tower. But heaven forbid anything might happen to break his five-day streak of bad luck…

This was not his street. This was not, in fact, the sort of place that a respectable member of the Magic Council, who was currently doing his best to avoid a scandal, wanted to be seen visiting: all dodgy hotels with names like 'Love Queen' and 'Midnight Bliss'; seductive neon signs; seedy figures loitering in the shadows; and a general aura of shadiness that, even when he was acting as his dark mage persona, he wouldn't have touched with a barge pole.

He had the distinct feeling that someone was going to have a lot of fun misinterpreting this.

"I don't think I've ever been to this part of town before," Erza was saying, as she glanced around with interest.

"Yeah, this is really not where I thought we were going to end up."

"We ought to have taken a left turn a few streets back, to get to your flat." She offered him what was probably supposed to be an encouraging smile. "You'll learn where everything is soon enough. I'm impressed by how seriously you're taking living here."

Jellal grumbled something unintelligible. Far from being dismayed, Erza just gave a shrug. "Well, since we're here, we might as well look around."

"That would be a _very_ bad idea," he informed her.

"Why?"

"Because I'm not actually that stupid," he muttered, more to himself than to his even more clueless companion. "We don't want to be here when they catch up with us, trust me."

"What are you-?"

"Are you going to show me the city centre, or what?"

She raised her eyebrows. "Are you going to stop running off without warning?"

"…I suppose so."

"Then we'll go to the centre," Erza smiled, and she led him back the way they had come.

Jellal couldn't shake a feeling of annoyance as they returned to the more civilized side of the city, with their pursuers right behind them once again. That might have been one awkward pitfall avoided, but the day was only just beginning.

* * *

His second chance came about entirely by accident.

They were walking to the station. He already knew where it was, of course, but it was an excuse to go somewhere busier, and besides, Erza seemed eager to show him her favourite coffee shop in the city, which was situated within the station terminal itself. As they approached a level crossing, the siren sounded and the safety barriers began to descend. Jellal immediately recognized it as a chance to put an obstacle in between his sacrifice and his pursuers; a quick glance over his shoulder confirmed that even if the three of them ran, they'd never make it to the crossing before the barriers were down.

"Come on!" he ordered Erza. Putting on an extra burst of speed, he dashed towards the barriers – only to be stopped in his tracks as she grabbed his arm. Her grip was so strong that she almost pulled him straight off his feet.

"That's dangerous!" she reprimanded him. Loudly. In front of everyone.

It had been so long since anyone had tried to tell him off for something that Jellal didn't know how to react. "We could have made it, easily," he muttered sheepishly.

"I know. But it sets a bad example for the children."

Glancing around the crowd of pedestrians, he saw several young parents glaring at him openly, shaking their heads and tutting. "Seriously?" he growled.

As the freight train thundered by, twenty carriages of missed opportunity, he turned a furious expression upon anyone who dared to meet his gaze. _Just you wait,_ he vowed. _I am_ this _close to destroying everything that you hold dear. Your children aren't going to live long enough to have to worry about crossing the train tracks on their own._

Still, his plans were of little consolation when fate seemed determined to get in his way. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Levy, Lucy and Mira moving up to the crossing on the other side of the street, taking intense interest in the barrier's stripy paintwork as an excuse to have their backs turned to him and Erza. He could have sworn they were laughing.

Erza realized that she was still holding onto his arm, and hastily let him go. "Sorry," she mumbled.

 _You will be_ , he thought savagely, as the barriers lifted up again and they went on their way. _Just you wait._

* * *

Round three.

Since fortune was clearly having too much fun tormenting him to take his side for a change, Jellal decided to take matters into his own hands. "I think we've toured enough of the town," he declared. "Let's go shopping."

Erza blinked at him. "…Shopping?"

"Yes. Shopping." He steered her in the direction of the enormous glass-fronted shopping centre in the heart of the city. "Got a problem with that?"

"No, of course not. I just didn't think that you'd want to…" She tailed off, confused. "I mean, this isn't… is it?"

"Isn't what?"

"Nothing. There are some excellent clothes outlets in the Trinity Centre. I do go there from time to time."

"Great," he said, not really listening.

The two of them joined the flow of people heading towards the shopping centre. It was precisely because of the crowds that he had picked this location. There should be plenty of opportunities to lose their pursuers in the throng of shoppers, especially when a high density of shops always exacerbated the infuriating tendency of the general public to saunter without purpose, blocking the entire path.

The first thing that struck him about the shopping centre was how bright it was. There were two floors, but the second was a mezzanine walkway running only around the walls, allowing them to see right up to the roof from the ground floor. There was enough glass set in the ceiling to allow most of the summer sunshine in overhead; the walls were painted white and the floors tiled with dappled marble. Shopfronts everywhere clamoured for attention, displaying their most colourful summer wares like peacocks. The building had a sophisticated design, modern with the odd classical touch, and attention had been invested in the smallest of details, from the perfectly sculpted handrails to the potted plants dotted around to add that extra touch of life.

To Jellal, it was deafeningly loud, infuriatingly lively, and filled with stupid people who embraced the boredom of shopping with a pointless energy that on any other day would have sent him longing for the calm, orderly solitude of his Tower. Right here and now, however, it was exactly what he was looking for.

He scanned the surrounding area as a simple plan formed in his mind. Erza was gazing wistfully at a shop on the floor above, though as soon as she saw him looking, she tore her gaze away and offered him a sheepish smile. "Was there any shop in particular you wanted to visit?" she asked.

"Top floor is fine," he replied briskly, leading her towards the escalators. Despite the girls' best attempt to close in on them through the crowds, he and Erza were most of the way to the top before the three of them even made it onto the bottom step – and that was when he made his move.

In between the up and down escalators was an undulating metallic slide, down which water poured in a relaxing rhythm. Not wanting to be shown up, along the other side ran a set of three large steps, a staircase for giants. Each step had on it a large earthen pot sporting a fern of some sort, protruding up from a bed of decorative pebbles. Jellal reached over the handrail and palmed one of the small stones. He tossed it to himself happily, running his fingers over its smooth surface; letting his magic flow into it.

He and Erza reached the top of the escalator and began walking away. A single glance over his shoulder, as casual as could be, told him everything he needed to know – calculating, scheming, planning. No one noticed, not even Erza, as a subtle flick of his wrist sent the stone shooting through a gap in the crowd. His aim was perfect: it smashed straight into the emergency stop button on the side of the escalator.

Immediately the lacrima powering it flickered and died; the escalator ground to a reluctant halt. The three girls were trapped halfway up, hemmed in by the confused crowd, while he and Erza were safely outside their line of sight. He had made an opening, but it wouldn't last for long. They had to get out of here, and quickly.

As shouts of alarm began to sound from behind them, Erza paused and glanced over her shoulder. "What's going on?"

"Looks like some kind of machinery malfunction. Not our problem."

"But…"

"Hey, are we going shopping or not?"

Acquiescing, she fell into step beside him as he set a brisk pace away from the stopped escalator. His eyes scanned all the shops to the left and right; he sized them up just like he would environmental features on a battlefield, seeking an advantage. One close to the stairs would be too obvious, yet if he chose one too far away, they might not make it in time. His eyes fell upon the one Erza had been looking at earlier. It was as good a choice as any. "In here," he instructed.

"Siegrain," she began, somewhat puzzled. "You do know that this outlet only sells women's clothes, right?"

So? "You're a woman, aren't you?"

"Sure, but I thought we were shopping because you wanted to buy something…"

When he didn't respond, too busy weighing up his next move to pay any attention to what she was saying, she gave a shrug and turned to examine a nearby display of evening dresses.

Getting off the main walkway was all well and good, but the escalator would resume moving any moment now, and those girls would undoubtedly check every shop they passed. He could hide himself easily enough, but getting Erza to do the same was another matter entirely. Then his eyes fell upon the changing rooms in the back of the small shop and an idea came to him.

"Here," he said, seizing up a dress at random from the rack Erza was looking at and pushing it into her hands. "Try this on."

She stared at him as if she didn't understand the concept. "Siegrain-"

Seriously, what was so difficult about this?

Losing patience, he pushed her backwards into the changing room and tugged the curtain across between them. Now that she was safely hidden from view, he ducked down behind a rack of fur coats and pretended to be examining the price tags. Through a small gap in the display he could clearly see the entrance to the shop. There he waited, like a hunter eyeing his snare, utterly silent, trying not to inhale the smell of the faux leather, ignoring – or perhaps not even noticing – the bemused looks that the store's employees were throwing him.

Only a minute later, his patience was rewarded when he observed Levy's head poking through the shop entrance. She gave the inside a cursory glance, and, failing to spot her quarry, hastened on to the next shop. Jellal jumped to his feet with a rush of satisfaction. As he had thought, mere Fairy Tail mages were no match for him when he put his mind to it, no matter how curious their battlefield. Now all he had to do was double back downstairs with Erza and the girls would never be able to find them again.

"Erza, come on, where are you? We need to go."

At his brusque snap, the curtain drew aside with the clink of metal rings and Erza stepped out. He glanced at her, and did a double take. What the hell was she wearing that dress for? Okay, sure, he had pushed her into the fitting rooms with it, but he didn't think she was actually going to put it on, let alone walk out still wearing it! Did this woman have no common sense at all?

Undoubtedly misinterpreting his reaction, she inquired, "Does it suit me?"

There was probably only one right answer to that question. "Umm… yes?" he hazarded.

Then, to his surprise, she smiled. It wasn't a forced smile, like she had been doing around him ever since he had shown up in the guildhall and turned her world upside down. It was genuine.

Jellal had literally no idea if the dress suited her or not – it was hardly his area of expertise, and quite frankly, he couldn't care less. It was a simple dress, pure black and knee-length, with an elegantly pointed low neck as the only real feature he noticed. But when she smiled, all the things he hadn't noticed before suddenly jumped into the foreground, drawn out of her shell by that naïve, honest, and yet completely unexpected happiness. Her smile, her slender frame, and above all, the dazzling scarlet of her hair – all these features were emphasized by the simple design of her clothes rather than hidden by her armour.

It reminded him of how she had been back when they were both imprisoned in the Tower. Despite the despair of their situation, her mere existence had brought hope to all of them. She was most beautiful when there was nothing to hide behind; when she was simply herself.

 _This_ was his Erza. Forget the girl who was so uncertain around him; who didn't know how to react. This Erza, strong and radiant, was the one he wanted to sacrifice.

Which meant he had to stop dawdling and get her to the Tower of Heaven as soon as possible.

"I'm glad," she was saying. "I've actually had my eye on this dress for a while, but I wasn't sure if it suited me or not…"

"Well now you know, so we can leave."

A quick glance over his shoulder, imbued with a new sense of purpose, revealed that the exit was still clear. He had taken two eager steps forwards when he realized that Erza wasn't with him. Instead, she was heading back towards the changing room.

"Erza, what are you doing?"

She gave him a bemused look. "I can't just walk out wearing this, can I?"

"Requip it," he snapped.

"I can't send it to my personal dimension if I haven't paid for it. That's stealing."

"Then hurry up and take it off. We need to go."

"Hmm." Erza considered her options. Of course _now_ she would take her time thinking things through. Jellal impatiently shifted his weight from foot to foot, wondering why his chosen sacrifice had to be so darn troublesome. "You know what? I think I will buy it after all."

And she joined the queue at the till, apparently missing the way Jellal was repeatedly hitting his head against the wall.

By the time Erza was finally ready to leave, Jellal's mood had reached rock bottom. Thanks to the delay, during which time there had been no hope of hiding her from plain sight, the large potted plant opposite the shop had acquired three new pairs of eyes courtesy of the girls spying on them from behind it.

"So," Erza was saying brightly. Having purchased the dress, she had promptly decided that she didn't quite feel comfortable walking around town with him while wearing it, and had switched back to her armour. "Which shop would you like to visit next? There are more designer shops on this floor, or a chocolatier downstairs that I would highly recommend-"

"None. We're leaving," he grunted.

"Already?"

He forcibly led the way back towards the escalators, with the girls once more on his tail. "I'm fed up of this place. Let's go somewhere else."

Erza stared after him. "What did you want to come here for, then?" she wondered out loud. "Surely not just for…"

With a firm shake of her head, she hurried after him.

* * *

This was Jellal's final chance, and he was gambling it all on Magnolia's canal system.

Erza was getting suspicious. The way she looked at him when he had suggested that they go punting revealed that she was no longer buying the excuses for his strange behaviour. Despite his best efforts to pretend that he wanted to try everything in town while he had the chance, she had clearly guessed he had an ulterior motive.

The plan itself, so he thought, was a stroke of genius. Canals split the heart of the city into blocks. Nowadays, they were used rarely, if at all, by the industrial traffic for which they had first been designed; the city council maintained them simply because it was cheaper than getting rid of them. Besides, the lack of polluting traffic meant that they had become a picturesque addition to the city's tourist attractions.

Normally, they didn't pose a problem to pedestrians because of the numerous bridges connecting the roads across the water – except he had noticed that one of the main bridges was closed for repairs. There wasn't another bridge in sight, meaning that the canal provided a perfect natural barrier. All he had to do was get Erza into one of the punts they rented out to tourists, turn off down one of the side routes of the canal system, and by the time the girls found another way across the main canal to follow them, they could be well out of sight and Erza would be his. It was a _great_ plan.

Or at least it was in theory. Punting, so he was discovering, was a lot more difficult than it looked.

So far, they had moved about three metres under the amused gaze of the punt owner, Jellal's sleeves were soaked, and he would already have fallen in at least once if Erza hadn't grabbed him just in time. She had offered to take over, but he had stubbornly refused to be beaten by a flat boat and a long pole, even though he had a sneaking suspicion that they had only made any progress at all because she had been helping to push the boat with her telekinesis.

Jellal could see the three girls lurking in the shadows of a nearby side-street. They couldn't risk getting in a punt themselves, as it would be too obvious. Although they were watching him with their usual suspicion, they clearly hadn't worked out what he was planning, or they'd have undoubtedly split up to cut him off. Good. He was starting to get the hang of this.

"Have you ever been punting before?" Erza was asking.

It must have been obvious from his utterly abysmal attempt at it that this was his first time; she was probably only trying to fill the silence. He wasn't _trying_ to make the situation awkward – it was just that moving this damn boat was taking all his focus.

"No. This is my first time."

"I didn't think it would be your kind of thing. I've been a few times, but not recently."

There was a lengthy pause. They moved another few metres, and this time in the direction that Jellal had been intending to go. The turning that was to be his salvation drifted closer.

Made uncomfortable by his intense concentration, Erza continued, "Punting on the old canals is a very recent tradition, you know. I learnt that this morning. After the trains became the main means of transporting industrial goods around the region, the canals fell into disrepair, and so the mayor of the city opened up the waterways to private boat owners, and to the tourism industry, in return for a tax paid towards their upkeep. But even though it's new, there are still all sorts of superstitions involved. For instance, it's often considered good luck to punt under the Bridge of Vows on a first date. Not that I'm saying we should do that or anything; obviously not! Just, um, thought it would be an interesting story. There are loads of other traditions too. I was reading up on them this morning, I just can't remember what any of them are-"

"Erza."

"…What?"

"Can you keep it down? I'm trying to concentrate here."

Erza frowned at him. "I'm not sure punting is something you should really need to concentrate on. It sort of ruins the mood." Then, as if immediately realizing the implications of what she had said, she tried to divert the conversation elsewhere. "Are you sure you don't want me to take over?"

"I'm getting the hang of it," came his disgruntled retort. "We're almost there now, anyway."

"Almost where…?"

He was in the middle of making up some harmless response when he felt something flicker across his senses: magic. Hostile, if that soaring sense of danger was anything to go by – and he realized several things at once.

One: he knew the sense of that magic. It was Lucy's. Which meant that she had worked out what he was planning and was taking action to cut him off before he could get away.

Two: he also knew the sense of that particular Celestial Spirit. He knew because Lucy had summoned her against him once before, when she had nearly drowned him after she had caught him snooping around in Erza's room.

Three: this was bad. This was very bad. This was enormous-tsunami-hurtling-towards-him-down-the-canal kind of bad.

"Look out!"

He barely had time to register the shout before something struck him from the side. He caught a glimpse of Erza, dressed in a black armour she certainly hadn't been wearing a moment ago, and then she barrelled into him and they were both hurtling through the air.

Landing flat on his back on the pavement by the side of the canal, he stared up at Erza in shock. She was knelt over him, unintentionally pinning him to the floor, while a tidal wave swept harmlessly by down the waterway. A pair of draconic wings protruded from her back. She had seen the danger, switched to a suitable armour, and carried both of them to safety in the nick of time – protecting not just herself, but him as well.

They gazed at each other, completely frozen. Her scarlet hair was pulled into a long ponytail; it tumbled down the side of her neck and the tip of it tickled his nose.

"Sorry!" she exclaimed suddenly. Jumping to her feet, she reached down to help him up. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," he replied, still slightly dazed.

"I'm glad." Then she added, with a deeply concerned expression, "That's odd, though. I didn't know we had tidal bores here in Magnolia. The guide book didn't mention anything like that. Maybe I should write to the author. Do you think… Siegrain?"

He wasn't listening. Now that the moment had passed, and his brain had caught up with him again, he had finally realized that Erza had carried the two of them over to the wrong riverbank. They were standing just metres away from where his three pursuers were hiding.

He was right back to square one.

"You know what?" he scowled. "I give up! I can't take this any more!"

"Siegrain? Is something wrong?"

Still a member of Fairy Tail.

Still hadn't kidnapped Erza.

Still having all his incredible plans to destroy the world accidentally ruined by a bunch of bumbling fools.

"No. Nothing. Everything is absolutely fine."

Erza looked at him for a long moment, deep in thought. "I know what will help. Let's go and get some food."

She set off towards the nearest row of shops, and even though being around Fairy Tail mages for a moment longer was pretty much the last thing Jellal wanted right now, he glared at her receding back and found that he didn't even have the energy to refuse.

* * *

 _ **A/N:** And this is why I should never be left alone with a laptop when I am in a silly mood. Oh Jellal, you accidental romantic. ~CS_


	6. Afternoon Tea

**Kidnapping Erza**

By CrimsonStarbird

* * *

 **Chapter Six: Afternoon Tea**

"Order anything you want," Erza said encouragingly. "It's on me, as thanks for helping us out on the Appenzell mission."

Jellal mumbled something unintelligible that might have been a thank you but probably wasn't.

Fortunately, Erza seemed to interpret it as one. They placed their orders with the waitress and lapsed into silence.

Jellal's silence was a sullen one. Everything about this tearoom Erza had chosen irritated him: the bright colours, mostly whites and pinks; the flower petals _everywhere_ ; the extortionate price of a slice of cake; the great glass windows, open to the world in a way that would not allow him to relax; and the incessant cheeriness of the summer birdsong, the pianist, and the waitresses' false smiles. He had never missed his dark, cold, and creepy Tower more. Having to act like a polite, law-abiding member of the Magic Council was bad enough – having to actually participate in everyday life was a living nightmare.

Erza's silence, by contrast, was mostly an awkward one, as she searched for something to say. "Oh, did you hear? The Master told me that the villagers from Appenzell have retracted the charges against our guild. Not only that, but they're actually going to pay us the full amount for the work we did."

"That's convenient."

"You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"

"First I've heard of it."

"Only, the Master thinks that something must have happened to make the villagers realize that threatening the mages who helped them isn't a very good idea…"

"Nothing to do with me."

She stared at him for a long moment. It could only have been him, and they both knew it, but if he didn't want to accept the credit for it, for whatever reason, then she would humour him. "Fair enough. So, how are you finding Magnolia so far? Do you think you're going to enjoy living here for the next month?"

"You're being awfully nosy today."

"I…"

Jellal had been expecting Erza to berate him for being rude when she was only trying to do the civilized thing and make conversation. Instead, she just glanced down at the table without another word. Gone was the extraordinary Erza, who had saved him from drowning; gone was the stunning Erza, who had been drawn out of her shell by a flattering dress – troubled, self-conscious Erza was back, and she traced over floral patterns on the tablecloth with her finger while the waitress unloaded a tray of cakes and expensive china onto their table.

"I know," she murmured, when they were alone again. "I'm sorry. I've been trying to talk about nothing and think about- well, about _anything_ else, because… I've just been putting off what it is that I really need to say. Siegrain, can I… can I talk to you?"

"Five days in this stupid guild, and that's the first time anyone's asked my permission," he remarked. "You might as well talk. If it's interesting, I'll listen."

"It's just that… I wanted to talk about J-" She got no further than that one letter before swallowing, and settling for the safer option. "About the Tower of Heaven."

"Oh?" Far from being shocked by the subject, Jellal remained perfectly at ease. He gave no outward sign that her words held any significance for him at all – save perhaps for the dark glimmer of amusement igniting deep within his eyes, which Lucy might have recognized from their time together on the S-Class Quest, but which Erza's inability to meet his gaze rendered her completely blind to. "I wondered how long it was going to be before you brought that up."

She was waiting for him to say something else: to confirm that he didn't mind talking things through with her; or perhaps to forbid her from pursuing this line of enquiry at all. He kept her waiting, enjoying her discomfort. It was quite difficult to pull off 'intimidating' while pouring tea deliberately slowly into a fine china teacup, but he thought he was doing a remarkable job of it.

"I know you told me not to mention it last time we met," she continued nervously, thinking of the most recent time they had run into each other before he had joined the guild – when she had been called before the Council to stand trial for all the damage Fairy Tail had caused. "But… that's why I thought… since it's just the two of us here, I wasn't going to get a better opportunity than this."

Jellal's gaze danced briefly around the room, as if to confirm Erza's assessment that they had relative privacy for their conversation. While the middle of a bustling café didn't seem like the ideal place for such a discussion, it was certainly a lot better than the guildhall, where there were Fairy Tail mages constantly watching him like hawks.

And as for the Fairy Tail mages in the café… well, fortunately for him, the only other free table when they had arrived was over at the far side of the tearoom, well out of earshot. Levy, Lucy and Mira were peering shiftily over their menus at the two of them. It was so obvious they were up to no good that Jellal had his fingers crossed that one of the waitresses would soon notice their suspicious behaviour and ask them to leave.

In the meantime, he had nothing to lose from humouring Erza for a little while. It would probably be entertaining.

"Do you mind?" she was asking.

"I don't mind."

His casual words didn't seem to bring her any measure of relief – perhaps she had been hoping that he would say no, and this conversation could have been avoided. She nodded slowly. "How much do you know?"

"Everything."

"Everything?"

"About the Tower of Heaven, about Jellal's scheme, about _you_ …"

There was so much implied by that simple statement. He knew things about her that not even her closest friends did; secrets that she had been keeping from her beloved guild for so many years. There was a reason why she had buried that truth: the past was her weakness. She could run away from it all and build a new life for herself, a new personality, protected by armour both literal and figurative, but those memories would always remain; the crack in her armour that he alone could exploit.

"But I don't understand!" Erza exclaimed suddenly. "If you know what he's planning, why don't you stop him? You're a member of the Magic Council! Even if he is your brother, you can't possibly approve of what he's doing!"

"Let me ask _you_ a question, Erza," Jellal cut across her smoothly. "You also know what he's planning. Why aren't _you_ doing anything about it?"

"I…"

"You've been running away for eight years, Erza."

"He said he would kill my friends if I ever went back there! I didn't have a choice!"

"Is that how you've been justifying it to yourself all these years? You were scared. You ran. You came to a city where no one knew your name, as far away from the past as possible. Fairy Tail's Titania is nothing but a lie. Beneath that armour, you're a broken human being, crying alone in the dark because you know the world will never accept a coward who ran and ran and never looked back."

He had spoken to provoke her; he expected to see her retaliate desperately and defensively, or, better still, to watch the remnants of that inner strength she had managed so bravely to muster around him shatter completely.

But Erza simply offered the tablecloth a sad smile. "You're right," she said. "Everyone around me thinks I'm so strong, and I'm not. I'm a coward. Apart from Jellal, you're the only person in the whole world who knows the truth. I can't lie to you, like I've done to everyone else, and… that's why I don't know how to act around you."

The wind stolen from his sails by her concession, Jellal stumbled over his response, and Erza took the chance to continue. "Because of that, I feel as though we know each other so well; that we're somehow close in a way that doesn't make any sense. I guess that's why I feel responsible for you being here, and why I want to help you fit in with the guild, and why I just didn't know how to react at all on today's da- _day_ of touring the town."

Here she paused, as if slightly embarrassed by something. She poured herself more tea and watched the leafy fragments settle in the bottom of the cup. "It's silly, isn't it? I mean, before you joined the guild, we'd only ever met a handful of times. I really thought that I'd be able to do exactly as I said to you that evening – to just put Jellal and everything else behind me and get to know you as a person instead. But it's impossible. As you say, I can't outrun my past. Every time I look at you, I'm reminded of _him,_ and everything that I left behind… and it's not fair on you."

"…On me?" Jellal's bewilderment was genuine – after all, he was the sole cause of her suffering, and yet here she was, feeling _sorry_ for him?

"Because I have all these confusing feelings about Jellal, and I'm projecting them onto you, just because you look like him! I mean, you're not even like him at all… though, I suppose it has been so long that even Jellal must have changed a lot since I knew him. You're the only person I can talk to about this, so even though we hardly know each other, it's all getting pushed onto you. I want to get to know you for you, and… and yet whenever I look at you, I'm just reminded of everything that happened with Jellal, and I just can't get past it. I'm sorry. I'm really sorry…"

"Are you angry?" he prompted her, as her voice faded to nothing. "Do you blame Jellal, for making you feel this way, even now?"

Erza shook her head. "No. I don't hate Jellal."

"…You don't hate him? After everything he did to you?"

"We went through so much together." Smiling sadly, Erza used a small fork to pick up cake crumbs from her plate – possibly as an excuse to avoid looking at him, or possibly just because her mind was a long way away from the tearoom. "I think it must be difficult for someone who wasn't there to understand, but we only survived for as long as we did because we were together. Jellal was a good man; a wonderful man. I don't know what it was that changed him, but it must have been awful. He went to that room of torture protecting me – whatever he went through, he had to suffer at least in part because of me. No, I'll never be able to understand why he did what he did, or why he turned down our chance to leave that place for good… but it doesn't change everything that we did together, or everything that I owe him."

"Even if you're still suffering because of him?"

"Even if that is the case. I'm sure it must sound crazy, but over the past few days… I've been thinking more and more that I want to see him again. I want to see if he's changed… if he's grown up… if the boy I knew back then is still alive somewhere in him. I should hate him, but… I just don't. It was so long ago." She gave the tablecloth another shy smile. "I know it's stupid. If we did meet again, I'm sure it wouldn't be pleasant. But I guess it's just another facet of this confused jumble of feelings that I can't even begin to understand."

Well, this was really not how Jellal had been expecting the conversation to go.

To have Erza here, speaking almost fondly of him from the past – who was she to decide she didn't hate him, after everything he'd done? He had assumed she was only being civil to him because she believed he _wasn't_ Jellal. If it was true that her behaviour was all tangled up in the paradoxical and preposterous feelings for Jellal that she was projecting onto him – how was he meant to cope with that? She was supposed to hate him. It would be so much easier that way.

Oh, he could make her hate Jellal again. He definitely could – just as soon as he got her into the Tower and revealed to her the true extent of his deception. She would spend the last few minutes of her life hating him, before he sacrificed her in order to achieve his dream, and he would love every second of it. Until then… he'd just have to deal with this the best he could.

"I find it astounding that you could have lived through the Tower, through being betrayed by the man closest to you, and yet not even find it in yourself to hate him for it," Jellal remarked.

"Perhaps I have simply been fortunate. I have no reason to hate anyone. I love my friends and I love my guild. I've been happy; or at least, as happy as I could be, after everything that happened. Recently, I've been wondering – do you think Jellal might have felt the same, if he'd had the chance to join a guild like I did?"

"No. Absolutely not." Surprised by his sudden refusal, Erza blinked at him, bemused. He continued, "I don't see how anyone can spend any time in this stupid guild without hating the whole world."

Erza's vocal defence of Fairy Tail was fortunately cut short when the waitress arrived with a fresh pot of tea. There were advantages to having critical conversations in public places, or so Jellal thought to himself as he watched Erza completely lose her train of thought. Perhaps he should do this more often.

Catching him observing her, and probably misunderstanding, Erza gave another sheepish smile. "Sorry. I did it again, didn't I? I just went off talking about Jellal, when that's really not what you want to hear. I thought that talking to you would somehow help me make sense of everything that's going through my head, but all I've done is annoy you, and ruin a pleasant afternoon."

"Okay, Erza, two things," Jellal said, somewhat impatiently. "First of all, this was not a pleasant afternoon. It ranks right up there as one of the worst afternoons of my life, and that's saying something, believe me." This was aimed mostly over Erza's shoulder at the three girls sat by the wall, and the idiotic meddling that had ruined his chance to kidnap Erza yet again.

"And secondly, I can't tell you how to feel! I don't know whether it's right for you not to hate Jellal, or if you should be avoiding me, or if the person you are now is a lie because you weren't always so strong – only you can decide that!"

"Siegrain…" Erza whispered, astonished.

"What do you want from me?" he demanded. "Why would you even bring all this up?"

"I…" Erza thought for a long moment, her eyes closed, unaware of the hustle and bustle of the tearoom around her. "You asked me why I never told anyone about Jellal's plan. I didn't because I didn't want him to hurt my friends, but also… I did some research into the magic that he is creating, the R-System. As far as I can tell, it requires two things that he doesn't have."

Jellal nodded at her to continue, curious to find out how much she knew.

"The first is a living sacrifice of sufficient power. I imagine that Jellal will be as strong with magic as you are, and thus a suitable sacrifice shouldn't be too difficult for him to obtain."

 _You'd be surprised_ , Jellal thought.

"But the second is more difficult. It requires an enormous amount of magical energy, possibly even more than that of all the mages on the continent put together. There is simply no way he can get hold of that much power. His quest is an impossible one… isn't it?"

And she turned her searching gaze upon him. She wanted confirmation that she was right. Of course he was going to give it to her – he would have to be insane to tell her that he had infiltrated the Magic Council in order to use Etherion as the power source – but he found himself hesitating. Why was she asking him this? She already knew she was right, so what was the point of this whole conversation?

 _Because that's not what she's asking._

He was the only person in the world who could possibly have understood her, and in that moment, he did.

When she said, _tell me that the Tower of Heaven can never be fully realized_ , she was really asking him for something completely different.

 _Tell me that it's okay to stop thinking about the past._

 _Tell me that I can move on with this life I have chosen for myself over the past eight years._

 _Tell me that I'm allowed to let go of the Jellal that haunts my memories, and put all that behind me by coming to know you instead._

If only she knew that the person from whom she was seeking validation was the very one who had put her in this position! There was a part of him that wanted to laugh, but a greater part still was frozen by her request, and it was that part which kept control.

He had to be so careful. He didn't want her to put Jellal and everything that happened behind her – he needed her to fear the past, because that was the source of his control over her. Equally, the more she thought about the Tower of Heaven, the more likely it was that she would begin to suspect him of having a hand in it, or worse, do something stupid like try to confront Jellal. It would be much safer for him if she put it out of her mind.

And if he helped her now – if he gave her the reassurance she was looking for – she would only come to trust him more, wouldn't she? The more she came to accept him as her friend and confidant, the more devastating the truth would be when he finally revealed everything. He had been patient for eight years. Another few days was nothing.

But how? Encouraging speeches were something guild mages did, not evil cult leaders. Even if he had once possessed that skill, eight years of using threats rather than inspiring words to get things done had ensured that no trace of it remained. Yet he also knew he didn't need it. He had been there in that place with her; he understood like no one else could. All he had to do was swap their roles in his head: if he were the one who wanted to abandon his cult in the Tower and live in this guild instead, what would he have needed her to say to him?

When he spoke, his voice was sincere; subdued. "You're right. I came to the same conclusion as you – the R-System cannot be activated, the way it is now. That, I suppose, is also my answer to the question of why I have not told the Council about it. If Jellal finds a way to power it, I will act. But until that happens… well, why should I live my life in the shadow of the Tower of Heaven?

"As far as I see it, it's fine for you to move on. Do your own thing. Become your own person, and don't let who you once were forever define who you will be. Our memories are finite, but our futures contain unlimited potential. The days to come are always more important than those which have been."

Jellal placed his left hand flat on the table in front of him, with its deep blue Fairy Tail mark turned towards the sky. "That's why I'm currently fighting for a future where I'm not a part of this bloody guild."

Erza laughed. She couldn't help it. And then she stopped just as suddenly, as if she didn't recognize the sound coming out of her mouth. "I…"

Then she gave up and let herself smile, an honest expression of how she felt. "Thank you. I knew that you would understand me… I'm so glad I got to talk to you like this. Let's keep moving forward together."

She glanced up at him again and gave a self-conscious chuckle; an apology for how serious the conversation had become. "Do you _really_ hate Fairy Tail that much, though?" she asked, reaching out to touch his guild mark.

It was then that the teapot exploded.

Jagged shards of china burst out in all directions. Both of them immediately jumped to their feet, perceiving the explosion as the sign of an imminent attack. The fragments of pot scattered harmlessly along the table – but the same could not be said for the boiling water inside, which splashed across Erza's outstretched hand. She recoiled with a sharp hiss.

Ignoring the silence that had fallen over the tearoom in the absence of any apparent enemies, Jellal inquired, "Erza, are you alright? Did it burn your hand?"

"No, it's fine."

He frowned at her. "You should go and run some cold water on it."

"Seriously, Siegrain, this is nothing. I train with Natsu all the time; I'm used to _far_ worse than this."

"That's not a good reason to ignore proper medical procedure."

It was her turn to throw him an exasperated look. "It doesn't even hurt!"

"Well, now who's setting a bad example for the children?"

Erza opened her mouth to object and then closed it again abruptly. All around the tearoom, people – _families_ – were unabashedly staring at the two of them. Under that judgemental pressure, how could she object to something so harmless? Ah, turning someone's own argument back against them was the most satisfying victory.

"Go on," he instructed her. "Run cold water on it. For at _least_ ten minutes."

Conceding defeat, Erza sighed and strode towards the bathrooms. Jellal watched until she was safely out of sight, sitting back down and tapping his finger thoughtfully against the sodden tablecloth. Slowly, the attention of the public turned away from him. The waitress swept away the remains of the teapot, and everything was back to normal.

Only then did Jellal turn his attention towards the three girls cowering in the corner of the room. With deliberate slowness, he pointed first at them, and then at the table in front of him. The message was clear: "Here. _Now._ "

The girls exchanged mortified glances. "I _told_ you he was on to us," Lucy muttered.

Displeased by their reluctance, Jellal narrowed his eyes. The latent magic his body was emitting, usually so perfectly controlled that it was almost undetectable, suddenly shot up in intensity. All three of them flinched; even the closest non-mages glanced around in alarm, not knowing what had attracted their attention but fearing it all the same. Undoubtedly remembering the wyvern he had flattened just the other day, Lucy murmured to the others, "I think we'd better do as he says…"

The three of them traipsed over to his table, and, beneath his furious glare, they sat down opposite him like children awaiting punishment. Jellal folded his arms. "Okay, which of you broke the pot?"

None of them said anything. Icy danger entered Jellal's tone. "It's in your best interests to tell me. Own up, and I _might_ spare the other two."

"I did it," Levy spoke up morosely. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt anyone, it's just…" In face of his judgemental stare, fiery defiance sparked up inside her. "I didn't have a choice! You were going to use that moment to try and hold Erza's hand and I was not about to let that happen!"

"You- what?"

"Oh please, you think we couldn't tell just because we were all the way over there? It was obvious to everyone in the room what the mood was like at your table. I warned you before that I wouldn't let you put your filthy hands on Erza after that first day, and then you have the nerve to pull a stunt like this in front of everyone?"

"What do you mean, a stunt like this?"

"It's been obvious over the past few days that you're just trying to get Erza on her own for nefarious reasons. Showing you round the town, going shopping together, having afternoon tea – you know she's too kind to say no to anyone who asks her for help, and you're exploiting her good nature!"

While Jellal was certain that the girl had completely the wrong motives for suspecting him, it would be awkward if she stumbled too close to the truth. "What's so nefarious about wanting to get to know the town that I live in and the other mages in my guild?" he retorted.

"Oh, come on. You're not remotely interested in Magnolia, or in anyone else in this guild. You're a pervert with a creepy obsession with Erza, and I'm _not_ letting you have my friend."

"You're reading way too much into this."

"You took her into a street full of love hotels!"

"That was obviously an accident," he scowled. "The whole point of today was that I don't know my way around Magnolia, so how could I possibly have known that street was there?"

"…Pervert senses," Levy muttered, to the crumbs left on Erza's plate, but she seemed to relent a little in the face of common sense.

Lucy agreed, "I did try to tell you, Levy."

Jellal added, "You're awfully fond of jumping to conclusions, aren't you?"

"Alright, alright, I'm sorry already!" Levy threw her hands up in the air, suitably chagrined. "Maybe I did overreact a little bit, but you're hardly trying _not_ to be suspicious, are you? You didn't exactly give the best first impression to our guild, and we know hardly anything about you, since you're always so creepy and standoffish. Isn't it understandable that we'd want to protect our friend?"

He raised his eyebrows. "I hardly think you three are in a position to be criticizing my behaviour right now." He pointed at Levy. "I know this whole stalking thing was your idea."

She pulled a face and looked away.

Jellal turned to Lucy. "You tried to drown us both!"

Lucy cringed. "Yeah, sorry about that. I wasn't really thinking… I forgot how much Aquarius doesn't like you…"

"And as for you…" Jellal continued, glaring at Mira. "I actually thought that you were above this kind of thing, but clearly it was too much to ask for someone in this bloody guild to have a shred of common sense. You three should consider yourselves lucky I'm not getting the law involved. There would have been trouble if Erza had noticed you were following us."

"Erza would have understood we were only looking out for her!" Levy pointed out defiantly.

"Perhaps. But _I_ would never have forgiven you."

To his surprise, the moment of pointed silence was broken when Lucy gave him a timid smile. "You know, I kind of thought you would be a lot angrier than this when you caught us."

"I _am_ angry," Jellal scowled, confused.

"Sure, but last time I saw you angry, you flattened half a village. And yet you're actually here having a civilized conversation with us."

Wasn't he angry? He wasn't sure. He had called them over here specifically to be angry with them, but he wasn't nearly as mad as he possibly should have been. Certainly if someone from the Tower had so deliberately ruined his plans, he wouldn't have held back at all.

If anything had done it, it was probably his conversation with Erza. Anger didn't quite mesh with how he still felt as a consequence of their conversation, and he supposed that meant his annoyance just hadn't been able to stick. Sure, it was because of the girls' meddling that he had failed to kidnap Erza yet again, but he had been able to observe her weakness and admire her strength, and she trusted him more than she ever had, so it hadn't been an _entirely_ wasted day.

Lucy continued, "I suppose members of the Magic Council have to act mature, don't they?"

"Regrettably so."

"Just out of interest," Mira spoke up, "When did you notice we were following you? Be honest; it's important."

"Pretty much as soon as you left the guildhall."

"Told you so," Lucy butted in smugly. "Come on, pay up. I told you he was that good."

Watching as the other two girls reluctantly counted out small sums of cash to give to her – probably the result of some strange bet – Jellal shook his head in disbelief.

Not at all put out by her loss, Mira gave a cheerful shrug. "That's a Wizard Saint for you, I suppose."

"I used to make a living hunting dark mages for the Council. When it comes to stealth, you three have a _long_ way to go. The hat and glasses made you stand out far too much, for one thing."

"Oh, these?" Mira asked brightly. "I just thought they were fashionable."

"Uh-huh…" Shifting somewhat uncomfortably, Jellal glanced around the tearoom. "Where is Erza, anyway? What's taking her so long?"

"She's probably gone home."

"…What do you mean, gone home?"

"Well, look at it this way," Mira explained. "Erza leaves the table for a few minutes at your urging, and when she returns, she sees you sat with three other girls. That would be enough to upset anyone. I'd probably have left too, in that situation."

"Oh. That's a pain. She said she was going to pay for the food."

Levy blinked at him. "…Is that really what's bothering you the most here? Don't you care that you've probably upset Erza?"

"I don't think _I_ was the one who ruined this day, now, was I?" he returned, glaring at them once again.

"…Fair point," Lucy conceded. "Siegrain, we're sorry for ruining your date."

"That's more- wait, my _what?_ "

"Your… date."

"Hold on a minute. This was not a date."

"Yes it was!" Lucy objected, bewildered. "It completely, obviously, utterly was! There's this tearoom, for one thing, and you went punting – both of which made the list of top five suggestions for a romantic day out in Magnolia, according to Erza's guidebook – and besides, you and Erza looked so happy together just now-"

"Oh, not you too. As I told Erza, this has been categorically one of the worst days of my life."

"One of the _worst?_ "

"Yes. The five days since I joined Fairy Tail have been the five worst days of my life. The worst one was the day when I was blackmailed into joining this damn guild. The least worst day was probably the one where I got to destroy half a village. And the rest of the list contains some permutation of the other three days, today included."

The three girls stared at him. Their silence was slightly unnerving.

"…What?"

"And you said this to Erza?" Lucy pressed.

"Yes, obviously. Because it's true."

The silence continued. Jellal looked around for some answers – from the general public, from the staff waiting on tables, from the scene outside the windows – but no, the rest of the world was still moving. It was just the three mages sat opposite him who had apparently frozen. "Umm…"

"Wow," said a stunned Levy. "You sat here with Erza, at the end of your date, and you told her to her face that it had been one of the worst days of your life? You are hopeless."

"…I beg your pardon?"

"Definitely hopeless," Mira repeated cheerily.

Lucy placed her hand on Levy's shoulder. "Well, it seems we've got no need to worry after all, Levy. He and Erza are not going to be getting together any time soon. It's no wonder she left."

"Tell me about it," Levy echoed. She clapped her hands together. "Well, then. Since that's all sorted out, shall we head back to the guild?"

"Sounds good to me," Mira concurred.

"Wait…" Jellal began, as the three girls nonchalantly got to their feet. "What just happened?"

"Oh, nothing," Levy answered him, with a cheerful ring to her voice that he was sure she'd never used in his presence before. "Come on, let's go back to the guild."

Baffled by their change of heart, he followed the three of them to the door.

* * *

They didn't quite make it to the guild. In fact, they barely even made it out of the tearoom.

Jellal had come to realize that members of Fairy Tail were magnets for trouble – being accompanied by not one but three mages from that guild was just too tempting for fate to ignore. This time, 'trouble' presented itself in the form of a nearly naked man and a woman dressed all in blue.

Given Fiore's climate, it wasn't _that_ unusual, in the heart of summer, to see a man parading around town without a shirt on. However, not wearing trousers either was significantly less understandable, and, Jellal suspected, significantly less legal as well. So it was only to be expected really that the man in question sported a Fairy Tail mark on his bare torso.

The young woman, at first glance, seemed a lot more normal. She was wearing a long, dark blue dress, slit at the sides – possibly a fashion statement, or possibly to enable movement in combat; it was always difficult to tell – to reveal knee-high leather boots. A matching hat sat upon her naturally wavy hair, a paler blue than her dress; the sky to complement her sea. Nothing unusual there.

But of course normal was too much to ask for around this guild, and her perfectly respectable appearance was compromised somewhat by the fact that she was forcibly dragging the almost-naked man towards the tearoom they had just vacated.

"Hang on a minute," Lucy began, stopping the rest of the little party in their tracks. "Isn't that Gray?"

Mira gave a sigh. "Who else would it be, in the centre of town wearing nothing but his underwear?"

"I thought he was out on a job, though," Levy spoke up. "Who's that he's with? A client?"

All four of them took a moment to stare at the strange scene unfolding before them. "No, wait, I've seen her before!" shouted Lucy. "She's from Phantom Lord! That rain woman – Juvia, or something."

"What's she doing here? I thought that guild was disbanded." Levy gave Jellal a swift jab in the arm. "Weren't they, Mr Councillor?"

"Yes; we revoked their licence after the guild war," he answered automatically, before pausing to glare at her. "And don't touch me. Do you _want_ to die?"

The insolent girl ignored the threat. "Then…" Watching Gray struggle uselessly against Juvia's iron grip, Levy's eyes opened wide. "Is she here for revenge against our guild? Are we… witnessing a kidnapping?"

Lucy turned fiercely to her friend. "Levy, let's help Gray!" And she received a determined nod in return.

Jellal, however, was frozen to the spot. A kidnapping? He had spent the best part of five days trying and failing to kidnap a member of Fairy Tail – and now this Phantom Lord nobody was about to pull it off right in front of his eyes?

Like hell she was. If he couldn't kidnap Fairy Tail mages, no one could.

He was fast; far faster than Levy and Lucy, when he really tried. In the time it had taken them to analyse their options he was already acting, with the golden halo of his power blazing around him. A great circle of magic materialized around the hand held out behind him, and he swung it forward, launching streaks of light towards Juvia. She barely had time to register the danger before she was struck. The force flung her away from Gray; she hit the ground with a cry of pain.

As Jellal was deciding how best to follow up that strike without doing anything that would be considered over the top for a member of the Magic Council, he glimpsed movement out of the corner of his eye. Levy was at his side, her attention fixed on their opponent as she sketched a blazing word in the air with her finger. On his other side stood a bull-faced humanoid wielding an enormous battle-axe; if the feel of that magic was anything to go by, he was one of Lucy's Celestial Spirits. Jellal scowled. If they dared to get in his way-

Except it was Gray who jumped in between the three of them and Juvia, raising his hands in an urgent gesture of surrender. "Stop!"

"Gray-!" Levy exclaimed, aborting her attack halfway through.

Irritated, but knowing better than to strike under those circumstances if he wanted to avoid trouble, Jellal also allowed the magic flickering about his hand to disperse.

On the ground, Juvia pushed herself into a sitting position, staring over her shoulder in amazement. "Gray… protected Juvia?" she wondered out loud.

"Gray," Lucy said firmly. "What's going on? Why are you protecting her?"

"Why did you just attack her for no reason?" he retorted.

"Because she's a known enemy of the guild, and she was kidnapping you!"

"What? No, she wasn't!" Now that the immediate threat had passed, Gray let his arms fall to his sides. "Well, I suppose she was, but not in the way you're thinking…"

"I think you'd better explain what's going on here, Gray," Mira interjected sensibly.

"Fine." First, he turned to Juvia, holding out his hand to help her up. "Are you alright?"

She nodded, so Gray pressed on with his story. "This is Juvia. I was doing a job out in the wilderness when I was ambushed and captured by a group of bandits. Once they worked out I was from Fairy Tail, they decided to use me as a hostage to demand money from the guild, but Juvia rescued me. She said that she has nowhere to go now that her guild has been disbanded, so I asked if she wanted to join Fairy Tail."

"Gray!" Levy exclaimed. "She's with Phantom Lord! That guild almost destroyed us! And…" Though she didn't finish that sentence, the others understood. She and her teammates had suffered the most at the hands of the enemy guild. Seeing Gray defending one of their members was more than just hurtful – it was a betrayal.

"I know," he conceded. "I felt the same way at first, but I'd have been in big trouble if she hadn't arrived when she did. And… she said she's been following me ever since the guild war ended, trying to gather the courage to apologize for what happened. I think she sincerely wants to move on, and joining our guild would give her a chance to make it up to us and continue working as a legal mage."

The others exchanged glances, unconvinced. As calm as ever, Mira pointed out, "That doesn't quite explain why she was dragging you around the town, Gray."

"Oh, that. Well, we were heading to the guild to talk to Gramps when Juvia spotted this café and decided that she wanted to stop off there first. She wasn't going to take no for an answer, but it's not exactly the sort of place I can enter while dressed like this. I didn't want to get arrested." At their incredulous looks, he added defensively, "Hey, it's not my fault I'm not dressed! The bandits took my clothes!"

Lucy rolled her eyes. "It's one of your more credible excuses, I'll give you that."

They might have said more, only Juvia chose that moment to clasp her hands together and bow her head sincerely. "Juvia is very sorry for all the trouble she caused when she was with Phantom Lord. Juvia wants the chance to make it up to you."

"Well…" Lucy said doubtfully.

"I think this is a great idea," Jellal interrupted. "Yesterday's enemy is today's friend, and all that. This is the perfect opportunity to make amends. I definitely think you should give her a chance in Fairy Tail."

Silence spread so rapidly Jellal would have been forgiven for thinking time itself had stopped. He glanced around at their astonished faces. "…What?"

"Did you just do something altruistic?" demanded Lucy.

"What can I say? I'm a nice guy."

"…That is the last thing that you are," she harrumphed, folding her arms. "Wait a minute. You only want Juvia to join the guild so that you won't be the newest member any more. You want to use her as a distraction, so that we'll leave you alone!"

Jellal grinned at her. "Not to mention, your guild seems to like Phantom Lord even less than the Council. It's the perfect opportunity to get you lot off my back for a bit."

"You're despicable."

"So I've been told," came his cool response.

"You know, it's going to take a lot more than a new member to stop us from disliking you," Levy pointed out. "Juvia seems like a perfectly polite young woman, whereas you're a total jerk. No one is going to stop picking on you just because she's around."

Lucy backed her up. "Yeah, she's not exactly going to be worse than you, is she?"

Mira gave Juvia a warm smile. "Besides, if you're a friend of Gray's, you'll already have one more friend in the guild than this guy does. You'll fit in just fine in Fairy Tail."

"Then… Juvia can join your guild?" the water mage wondered.

"The final decision will be up to the Master, of course. But we'll pester him until he says yes."

After a moment, a broad smile spread across Juvia's face, brighter than the summer sun. "Thank you!" she exclaimed, jumping over and hugging Gray.

"Great," muttered the ice mage. "But why are you hugging _me?_ "

Meanwhile, Mira was introducing the other members of the group. The girls smiled and waved as their names were called; Jellal stuck his hands grumpily in his pockets and said nothing. Curiously, Juvia asked, "Aren't you from the Magic Council? Are you a member of Fairy Tail now?"

"Don't remind me," he scowled.

"I'll explain later," Lucy offered.

"Well," Juvia said to him, "Thank you, anyway."

Before he could ask what she meant by that, she was already gone, heading back to the guildhall with Gray. Levy and Mira followed, chatting merrily to the new girl, asking about her interests and telling her stories about the guild. The sound of laughter filled the summer's afternoon.

Lucy looked at Jellal. Jellal glared back, as if daring her to say something.

She dared. She may have been intimidated by him at first, but by now, she was just used to him being sullen. As long as she didn't take anything he said too seriously, and wasn't expecting him to be polite, being around him wasn't too bad. At least it was always interesting.

"You did that on purpose, didn't you?" she challenged.

"I don't know what you're talking about. It doesn't make the slightest bit of difference to me how many members this stupid guild has." Jellal shifted slightly under her persistent sceptical gaze. "Though I suppose it is in the best interests of the Magic Council to have as many rogue mages as possible associated with legal guilds…"

Lucy gave a reluctant smile. "Come on. Let's go back to the guild."

They began walking behind the others. This time, Lucy managed to keep her mouth shut for all of about ten seconds before trying to talk to him again, much to Jellal's annoyance.

"Siegrain, I wanted to apologize about earlier," she ventured quietly. "I got the wrong idea, and gave Erza false hope about today, and that probably caused you a lot of problems."

"You don't know the half of it."

"Well, I want to make it up to you, if I can. See, you might be a bit rude, and pretty hopeless too, but I don't think you're _that_ bad a person… I mean, I saw how quickly you acted when we thought Gray was in danger just now. And I think Erza would agree with that. I'm going to support you. If you want any help, or any advice, like concerning things _not_ to say to your date, then just give me a shout… okay?"

"Okay," he replied, because it seemed like the right thing to say.

Lucy turned away, clearly satisfied with herself, leaving Jellal to wonder exactly what it was that she thought he wanted help with. It seemed that the Fairy Tail mages were growing suspicious of him. The last thing he wanted was for any of them sticking their noses in his business. The sooner he could get Erza out of here, the better.

* * *

 _ **A/N:** Yay, new characters. Well, Juvia, at least. By this point in canon the Tower of Heaven arc would have happened and she'd be a proper member of Fairy Tail, so it makes sense to have her join here in this timeline too. She hasn't exactly had the opportunity to prove herself yet, like she got in the Tower of Heaven, but "she can't be as bad as Jellal" seems like a pretty solid argument for at least giving her a chance._

 _A few people have been asking about Erza, so I hope the first scene of this chapter goes some way to explaining where she is mentally right now. In canon, Tower of Heaven is the first (and possibly only) arc where we see her vulnerable; doubting herself and her relationship with others, and making mistakes because of it. But it's because of this that she's able to confront Jellal and the trauma of her past head-on, overcome it, and become a much stronger person for it. Just because that arc isn't happening in this timeline doesn't mean she gets to skip the part where she has to face up to her weaknesses; it just means it's going to happen in a different way. When Jellal arrived in the guild she tried to carry on acting as though nothing had ever happened, and she just couldn't. Being brave enough to bring up the subject with 'Siegrain' and admit how much it's getting to her is a big step forward for her._

 _On that serious note, thanks for reading - especially to the guest reviewers I can't respond to in person! - and I hope you enjoyed the chapter! ~CS_


	7. Esoteric History

**Kidnapping Erza**

By CrimsonStarbird

* * *

 **Chapter Seven: Esoteric History**

By now, the mages of Fairy Tail had grown accustomed to seeing Jellal around the guildhall.

He had to be there because the guild rules that Makarov was holding him to said so, but that did not mean he was under any obligation to interact with the other members of the guild. As such, when he wasn't out working, he could generally be found sat as far away from everyone else as possible; reading, thinking, scheming, and always keeping one eye on Erza, in case an opportunity presented itself.

Any polite attempts to engage him in conversation were quickly shot down. In fact, merely straying too close was enough to earn the well-intentioned stranger an openly hostile glare until they moved away again. He ignored them, they ignored him, and everyday life in the guildhall carried on as normal.

Or so Jellal hoped, but in Fairy Tail the exception to the rule was never too far away.

Natsu slammed his hands down on the table with enough force to make the great tome Jellal was perusing jump a foot into the air. "Siegrain! Fight me!"

Slowly looking up, Jellal stared at Natsu as if the boy had proposed something as ludicrous as flying to the moon. " _What?_ "

"Fight me!" Natsu repeated, as exuberant as ever. "Let's have a battle to determine which of us is the strongest!"

"There's no need to fight to determine something like that. It's obviously me."

"Well, I think it's _me_ , so the only way we can settle this is to fight!"

Jellal shrugged. "Alternatively, we could poll the residents of Appenzell."

"Hey!" Natsu stamped his foot on the ground in protest. "That's hardly fair! It's not my fault that the wyvern just _happened_ to be resistant to fire…"

"No, but then again, you _did_ choose to master a branch of magic that has such an obvious weakness," Jellal returned.

"Well, if my magic is so weak, you shouldn't have a problem beating me, should you? Or are you just too afraid to try?"

Natsu's eyes shone with excitement; a passionate challenge. Jellal just looked bored. "Yeah, that's right," the Wizard Saint drawled. "I'm terrified of the Dragon Slayer and his fire magic. There's no way I can win, so I might as well not try."

With that, he turned his attention back to the book in front of him and began to leaf through the pages, leaving Natsu to splutter in disbelief.

"But- oh, come on! What sort of mage backs down from a challenge?"

"One who has better things to do. Look, can't you see I'm busy here? There's no shortage of stupid people in the guild; go and annoy one of them."

Natsu frowned, ignoring the insults, as everyone had quickly learned to do around the moody councillor. "Then let's fight when you're not busy."

"Alright," the other conceded. "But I've got a lot of work to do for the Council at the moment, so let's say… we'll fight in twenty-three days' time. That way we'll both have time to prepare and find a suitable venue."

Natsu's eyes lit up. With a broad grin, he accepted, "Sure! I'm gonna hold you to that! Don't think I'll forget, just because it's so far in the future!"

"No, I'm counting on you remembering, don't you worry."

"Great!"

Natsu clapped his hands together happily. Jellal's attention had returned once again to his book, signalling the end of the conversation, but with that promise in hand, Natsu was more than happy to leave. There was a spring in his step as he met up with Lucy over by the Request Board.

"I _told_ you it was a stupid idea," Lucy reprimanded him, before he even had chance to open his mouth.

"No, you're wrong! He totally agreed to it!"

"He did?" Lucy glanced over her shoulder to where the councillor was sat, reading his book in the same leisurely manner as before. "It doesn't look to me like he's getting ready to fight."

"Nah, he's busy right now. But we're going to fight in the future! We've set a date and everything!"

"Really? When?"

"In twenty-three days!"

"…Natsu, you do realize that in twenty-three days' time, Siegrain's period as a member of this guild will be up, right? He won't even _be_ here. Of course he's not going to fight you."

The Dragon Slayer froze mid-step. "What? He tricked me!"

"That's not really a difficult task, is it, Natsu?" Lucy gave a sigh.

Natsu was no longer listening. "Siegrain!" he yelled, over the hubbub of the rest of the hall. "Fight me _now!_ "

With that as the only warning, he charged towards the seated councillor. Flames burst to life around his entire body; as he drew close, he leapt high into the air, drawing back his fist to strike.

Jellal watched the overeager mage plummet towards him with bleak resignation. "Seriously?" he muttered. "Do I _have_ to?"

But Natsu never quite made it. Moments before impact, someone whacked him with a bar stool. Driven off course, he struck a pillar head-first and tumbled down to lie in a groaning heap at its foot. The fire of his magic flickered and died.

The girl who had hit him was stood on the table next to Jellal's open book; she dropped the stool back onto the floor and placed her hands on her hips. Much to Jellal's surprise, it wasn't Lucy, interfering before Natsu could get himself hurt. Nor was it Mira, perhaps attempting to enforce what passed for order in this guild. It wasn't even Erza, trying to knock some sense into the boy.

No – drawing herself up to her full height, an act made effective only by virtue of the table supplementing her somewhat unimpressive stature, it was Levy who glowered down at Natsu's woeful form. "Natsu!" she scolded. "What have I told you about open flames near books?"

"I… ugh…" Too dazed to even form proper words, Natsu's pitiable mewling earned him no respite from Levy's righteous ferocity.

"Just because you can hardly write doesn't mean you should go around disrespecting the words of other authors! Books are something to be treasured and respected, not endangered by your careless use of magic! And don't even get me started on all the rare books we keep beneath the guildhall! I swear, if you start a fire that spreads to the guild's Archives, I will personally make sure that you experience ten times the pain those ancient authors would feel if they knew what you'd done to their cherished books! I've told you before, and I'll tell you again: if you're going to throw fire around like that, _do it outside!_ "

"Sorry, Levy," Natsu mumbled, suitably chastised.

"So you should be!"

"Come on, Natsu," Lucy spoke up. "Let's go and do some work until you've calmed down." To Levy, she added, "I'll keep an eye on him." Natsu groaned again, but managed to make it to his feet, and Lucy half-dragged him back over to the Request Board, calling out to her other teammate as she did so. "Happy, come on! We're going to go earn some rent money!"

Levy nodded approvingly as the three of them chose a job and left the guildhall. The crisis had been averted; there were no books on fire; that was good enough for her.

One person, however, was not even remotely pleased with her actions. "What do you think you're doing, interfering in my business?" Jellal growled.

Levy glanced at him and her good mood evaporated in an instant. "Oh, it's _you,_ " she retorted. "Well, if I'd known it was _your_ book, I wouldn't have bothered."

With a dignified harrumph, Levy hopped down from the table and began to stride off.

She managed all of about three steps before her curiosity won out over her spite.

It wasn't just that Jellal's book was clearly several hundred years old, but the open page was written in a runic language she thought she recognized, and embellished with intriguing diagrams of magic circles. To her credit, she tried to make her about-turn look as natural as possible, as though she had just remembered something she was supposed to be doing in the opposite direction, before sidling up to the table where Jellal was sat.

"So," she began, as casually as she could. "What are you reading?"

"Nothing."

"Doesn't look like nothing to me," she said airily.

The fact that she was completely ignoring his attempt to brush her off was not lost on Jellal. Once again, he found himself longing for the privacy of the Tower of Heaven, where anyone who valued their life knew better than to disturb him. In fact, even being in the Council Headquarters was preferable to this. There, those he was forced to work with for the sake of his plan respected his need for solitude when sorting out important matters of government. Besides, even though he couldn't threaten anyone there with magic like he could his servants in the Tower, the ire of a councillor was at least as effective a deterrent against those who sought to further their career in the political world.

But no. He was here, in this stupid guild, where no one had any respect for him, neither as a member of the Magic Council nor an infamous dark mage so tantalizingly close to destroying the world. He would have to make do.

"It's none of your business," he told Levy bluntly, and as if to demonstrate his point, he pulled the open book a little closer towards him.

Levy pouted. "Well, that's rude."

"I don't care. Go away."

Unfortunately for him, this girl had been doing the exact opposite of everything he told her since the day she had caught him breaking into Erza's room, and she wasn't about to stop now. Completely ignoring his order, she pressed her cheek to the table, lifting up the front pages of his book in an attempt to catch a glimpse of the title page.

Quick as a flash, Jellal slammed it back down. "Quit it!"

Levy gave a disappointed growl. "I bet you just don't want me looking because it's a book on how to get lucky as a pervert," she sulked.

"Yeah, because that's exactly the kind of book the Chairman of the Magic Council would ask me to take a look at, isn't it?" Jellal shot back.

Far from putting her off, his rejoinder only piqued the girl's curiosity. "You're doing Council work?"

"I _am_ still a member of the Magic Council, you know. Guild rules say I have to come into the guildhall, but if the Chairman needs me for something, it has to take priority over doing jobs as a guild mage, whatever Makarov might say. While you lot clearly have nothing better to do than challenge each other to fights in idiotic displays of machismo, I actually have a kingdom to run. So I, and the rest of the magical world, would greatly appreciate it if you could kindly shove off and let me get on with my work."

"…Oh." He was convinced Levy was going to object, but she just gave a quick shrug. "Okay. Seems fair."

"…Huh?"

"See you round, Siegrain," she said cheerfully. Then, with a quick wave of farewell, she turned on her heel and walked away.

Jellal watched her retreat through narrowed eyes. All his instincts were telling him that she had given in far too easily; passive surrender didn't match the tenacity she had displayed while stalking him and Erza, or the vengeful spite with which she had insisted on punishing him back when they first met.

Still, it seemed as though she really had gone off to bother someone else. Maybe she'd finally acquired some common sense from somewhere. Whatever her motivation, he wasn't about the complain – if everyone in the guild could follow her lead, it might make the remaining three weeks or so he still had to endure here somewhat more bearable.

Not that he was planning on being here for the full quota of his punishment, of course, but kidnapping opportunities had been in short supply recently. Erza had been helping to show Juvia the ropes around the guild, meaning she was never too far away from her and Gray. Besides, it didn't help that she had been acting strangely around him ever since their conversation in the tearoom.

Lucy had warned him that Erza would probably be upset with him following that incident, but that didn't seem to be the case at all. He supposed that if not even he had been able to be angry after their conversation, she certainly wouldn't have been able to. Instead, she seemed unable to decide whether to come over and start a conversation with him or not. She often did, but then quickly left again without saying anything substantive. Even more oddly, he had frequently caught her looking at him as he watched her out of the corner of his eye, and yet whenever he looked directly at her, she immediately hurried off to do something else.

Jellal gave a hopeful glance around, but right now she was _still_ stood at the bar, as she had been for at least an hour, chatting with Mira and showing no signs of leaving – seriously, how did people even find so much to talk about in their ordinary lives? Since he couldn't do anything to her in full view of Makarov and half his guild, he had no choice but to carry on reading through the book the Chairman had sent him.

This sort of Council work was the kind he didn't mind at all. The best place to learn about forbidden magic wasn't in some secret evil lair off the coast of the mainland, but at the heart of the institution in charge of assessing, controlling, and banning it. Not only did he have free access to all the books on dark magic that the Council had confiscated, but he was the one who got to decide which ones would be sealed away in the Archives. It was a position of great power, and he had worked hard to get the Council to trust him with it; he fully intended to abuse it as much as possible.

He was halfway through copying a diagram of a rather fascinating magic circle into his notebook when he became aware of a familiar prickling sensation, slowly increasing in intensity. He was being watched. He was certain of it; his instincts were never wrong on matters like this.

At first, he didn't particularly care. He was in the middle of the guildhall, doing perfectly innocent Council work – no one was about to launch an assassination attempt on him here. It was probably just Makarov being suspicious, and Jellal knew he was doing absolutely nothing wrong. If he ignored him, he'd go away.

But when the feeling still hadn't faded several minutes later, Jellal's patience ran out and he spun around – to find himself face to face with a periscope.

Whatever he had been expecting, it certainly wasn't that. He blinked at the periscope. It seemed to blink back. Things in this guild just got weirder every day.

Heaving a sigh, he wrapped his hand around the neck of the periscope and gave it a quick tug. There came a yelp from under the table as the girl who had been clinging to its other end was sent sprawling across the floor. Levy glanced up at him and did her best sheepish smile.

"And there I thought _I_ was supposed to be the creepy one," Jellal remarked, laying the impromptu spying device down on the table beside him.

Never one to stay down for long when this man was involved, Levy bounced straight back to her feet and brushed herself down. "It's not my fault!" she objected. "You've got a book that I've never even _heard_ of – have you any idea how rare that is?"

"No. And I don't really care. Go away."

"Why won't you let me look at it?" she protested.

"Because I'm busy working. You'd only get in the way."

"No, I wouldn't! Look, I could just get a chair and put it here…" She seized hold of the stool she had used to whack Natsu with and dragged it over to him optimistically. "See, I could just read over your shoulder, like this. I'd be really quiet. You wouldn't even notice I was here. Honestly." At his unimpressed look, she tried, "I could even go back to reading it from under the table, if you wanted…"

"No, I don't want you to go back under the table!" he exclaimed, half-exasperated and half-bewildered. "What is _wrong_ with you?"

"I just can't pass up the chance to read such a rare book! Seriously, you're so mean. Would it really be that bad just to let me take a quick peek?"

"You wouldn't understand it anyway."

That was the wrong thing to say. Far from being put off, Levy took it as a challenge. The spark that ignited in her eyes was just like the look in Natsu's when the boy had foolishly challenged Jellal to a fight – a look which really should have set alarm bells ringing in his mind.

"Try me," she grinned, and because that was apparently an invitation for her to do whatever she liked, she stepped unashamedly up next to him and ran her finger along the top line of the page. The ancient runic letters the book was written in bore no resemblance whatsoever to the modern alphabet, and feigning knowledge of it would be no easy task.

Much to Jellal's dismay, however, it was almost effortlessly that Levy began to spontaneously translate it. " _It is often argued that that which is directed by nature can never be anything disorderly: for nature is everywhere the cause of order. Magic, by its virtue as the truest representation of the natural world, conforms – nay, enforces – the order of nature. I do not refute this. Rather, I refute the use of that axiom to claim that in magic, as in nature, the pattern of life is thus impervious to disruption._ _The highest form of order is not pattern, but_ … what is that? Equivalence?"

"Symmetry is a better translation," Jellal corrected.

"Really? Are you sure?" She blinked at him; he just gave her a look, as if to say _I told you so_. Refusing to be intimidated, she pointed out, "I've never seen those characters read as 'symmetry' in a book from this era before."

"They can be read as 'equivalence', under other circumstances. But 'equivalence' here is taken to mean 'invariance' between observers, and he's using the phenomena of invariance as a means of defining the underlying principle. Invariants in the mathematical construction of magical signs correspond to symmetries in the signs themselves, thus: _The highest form of order is not pattern, but symmetry._ That's quite clearly what he's getting at here."

Levy frowned, skipping ahead down the page. "Oh, I see. He goes on to give examples of beginning and end, creation and destruction, life and death… okay, fine, I'll accept that that was intended to be read as 'symmetry'- oh!" She snapped her fingers. "Of course! How stupid of me! I had the date all wrong!"

"You did?"

She tapped the very top of the book, in between the spine and the aged pages, where traces of yellowish glue could be seen. "I saw this and assumed it was the tell-tale butterscotch colour of rabbit hide glue, which was course was phased out at the end of the fifth century, so I had automatically dated the text to around X480, but it isn't, is it? Now that I can see it closely, this is ordinary wheat paste glue, only it's been stored for a long period of time under ultraviolet light, which causes the white adhesive to take on this yellow tinge. With that in mind, I'd put the binding and intaglio plate style closer to X530, maybe X540 for publication, which was of course _after_ the invariant-symmetry relation was formalized in March X517, so yes, you're right, those characters would absolutely have been read as 'symmetry' by the intended audience."

"…Yes…" Jellal said, trying to act like he'd also worked that out from the glue and not by looking at the publication date on the first page. "An amateurish mistake."

Levy folded her arms in annoyance. "Okay, fine, so I made one mistake; how, exactly, does that invalidate the fact that I could blatantly understand this text just as well as you if I put my mind to it?"

"I think it's quite clear that you wouldn't be able to keep up," he told her coolly.

"Oh, really? It's not like you're interpreting this from memory, is it?" she retorted. "I was under the table, Siegrain. I know you've got a runic dictionary open on your lap."

Her observation was rewarded with an unhappy scowl, causing her to smile. "Besides," she added, "Trying to read something this old without using any reference materials isn't just stupid – it's insulting; both to the language itself, and to the mages who shaped it in a society very different to ours."

"…That's true."

Levy seemed to misinterpret that single concession as an invitation to sit down on the table next to his open book, chatting away happily as she swung her legs back and forth. "Though, when it comes to interpreting Armantian runes, the reference book you really want is Gregori's _Armantian Almanac._ The one you're using, Radick's _Introduction to Armantian Runes,_ would probably be my second choice, but it's nothing on Gregori. No other dictionary even comes close to unpicking the nuances of the language as a means of expressing magical theory."

He looked at her, and she looked at him, and then her eyes widened in sudden understanding. " _Allegedly_ ," she added hastily. "I haven't read it myself, of course, seeing as the Council has banned it and all…" With a not at all suspicious smile, she moved the conversation swiftly on before he could comment. "Why are you reading a book in ancient Armantian, anyway? You said the Chairman of the Magic Council sent it to you, right?"

"Indeed. A group of adventurers were exploring a ruined castle when they came across a secret room, which contained, amongst other interesting things, several skeletons and this book. As per the law, they reported it to the Council, who sent it to me to take a look at. I'm supposed to advise the Chairman on whether it contains illegal or otherwise dangerous magic, and thus what should be done with it… but it's a little difficult when guild mages keep interrupting me."

Levy ignored the hint. "And there I thought you were supposed to be doing guild work."

"Sure, but when the Chairman of the Magic Council asks you to do something, it's generally a good idea to do it, especially if you want to keep your seat on the Council."

"Getting to read such old, rare books on forbidden magic as part of the job…" Levy said wistfully. "I'd give anything to be able to do that. How on earth did you manage to land yourself a job like that?"

"By being very good at it, and by knowing far more about magic than most people do, legal or otherwise."

"Well, now I'm intrigued." She leaned back, placing her hands on the table and gazing up at the ceiling. "How does a perfectly respectable member of the Magic Council come to have such a reliable knowledge of dark magic? And not just a technical knowledge, but an appreciation of the classical magical languages and the texts themselves, on top of that?"

"I could ask you the same question," Jellal returned. "A legal guild mage who studies ancient magic and freely admits to having read books that the Council has banned?"

Levy gave a faint smile. "I'm not entirely sure why that comes as a surprise to you. I chose Fairy Tail as my guild for a reason, you know. Just because I'm not always destroying things like some people I could mention, or openly disrespecting the Council and its laws like others – it doesn't mean I don't belong here. Language is beautiful and magic is beautiful. I'm not going to stop pursuing either just because I've strayed into a grey area, forbidden by some stuffy old men who perceive every purely academic pursuit of ancient knowledge as another attempt to bring back Zeref's reign of terror and overthrow their rule. But it's a completely different matter for a member of the Magic Council, surely?"

Jellal tapped his finger on the desk while he thought of a safe response. He didn't want her getting too close to the truth, after all. He had assumed no one in the guild would take an interest in what he was doing, let alone actually understand it – only a handful of the scholars he had interacted with back at the Council would have been able to spontaneously translate ancient Armantian runes as competently as Levy had done, and it was likely that her knowledge of book history even exceeded his.

If she got the wrong idea, and became suspicious… but then again, he hadn't lied when he suggested that the Chairman knew about his proficiency with less-than-legal magic. What the Chairman _didn't_ know was that he was not an ex-dark mage, but very much an active one. Deceptions based on truth were far more believable than complete fabrications.

So he just shrugged again, as if the question hadn't bothered him at all. "It's hardly a secret that I was a dark mage before I started working for the Council. The knowledge came in handy when I first began to hunt dark guilds on the Council's behalf. And, of course, not even the Council is naïve enough to put itself at a disadvantage by refusing to acknowledge the forbidden magic that gives our enemies so much power. We have to understand these things at least as well as our opponents do. That's why the Chairman is perfectly happy to leave matters like this to me – and why if I refused to do Council work while I was here, they'd be in trouble. They don't have anyone who is capable of monitoring the Council Archives in my absence."

At this, the girl sat bolt upright, clapping her hands together with a new enthusiasm. "Wait, you're the councillor in charge of the Archives?"

"That's what I just said," Jellal answered, a little dubious about where this conversation was going. "What of it?"

"That means you can take me there!" she crowed. "I've _always_ wanted to visit the Council Archives! It's full of ancient books and rare magic and I'd give anything just for an hour in that place-"

"Keep dreaming," he advised her. "I'm not taking you there."

"What? Why not?"

"Because I can't just invite people into the Archives whenever I feel like it. Access is very tightly controlled, and it's more than my job's worth to allow a guild mage in without good reason."

Well, they were tightly controlled _in theory_. It defeated the purpose a little when the very man to whom the Council had given the task of protecting the Archives was, in fact, a dark mage on the verge of destroying their whole world – but they weren't to know that, were they?

Besides, if one overlooked the fact that it gave him unrestricted access to all kinds of forbidden magic, much of which had already been put to good use maximizing the efficiency of the Tower of Heaven, Jellal was without a doubt the best choice for the job. Other dark guilds were his rivals and enemies; he protected the Archives – which he saw as his hard-earned spoils of war – with a vigilance and possessiveness that a loyal supporter of the Council would have struggled to match.

Then there was the fact that, as Levy had already realized, he knew far more about dark magic than most – again by virtue of his alter ego being a notorious dark mage, who traded knowledge with other villains and studied the fragments of Zeref's writings his cult had access to with an unmatched devotion. The Council relied upon his expertise in these matters.

Although he had no problem in principle with violating Council regulations to bring a guild mage into the Archives just because he felt like it, he really needed to avoid getting into any more trouble with the Chairman and his colleagues before he had the chance to carry out the Etherion plan.

"Aww, but I'd be really sneaky, and no one would have to know…" Levy protested.

"Plus, there's something you're forgetting."

"And what's that?"

"I don't _like_ you. Why on earth would I go out of my way to do a favour for someone as annoying as you?"

Levy stared at him in silence for a moment – and then, to his amazement, she burst out laughing. "I suppose that's fair," she conceded. "It's my fault for asking you in the first place. For a moment there, I actually forgot how much of a jerk you are."

It was more of a rueful reflection than the aggressive insult he had come to expect from this unassuming girl, and Jellal wasn't entirely sure what to make of that. "Well, don't you forget it from now on," he grumbled, but without much enthusiasm.

"Still, if you're reading a book on forbidden magic, I probably shouldn't be looking at it over your shoulder. I wouldn't put it past you to arrest me just as an excuse to get me off your back."

"I can't. Reading a book which is still under consideration isn't a crime any more than annoying a councillor is, unfortunately for me, or I'd have done it right at the start of this conversation."

"Figures," she grinned. "Plus, it would be fairly hypocritical of you to object to other people expressing an interest in forbidden magic."

"I'm on the Magic Council. Hypocrisy is part of the job description."

Levy burst out laughing again. "And there I never thought I'd hear something like that from you. If it were completely up to you, then, would you eliminate the Council's Index of Forbidden Books?"

"I never said that. My view is that I should get to read whatever I like, and everyone else should have to play by the rules."

"…Why does that not surprise me?" Levy sighed, trying not to roll her eyes.

"Regulating what kinds of magic can and can't be freely learnt is, on the whole, a fairly good idea. Allowing for death magic to be studied is madness, and the governing body shouldn't be promoting magic that involves living sacrifices, or anything that might threaten the moral fabric of our society. That's just common sense.

"Take the Lullaby incident that your guild was involved in just a few weeks ago. In the hands of terrorists, that sort of magic could be catastrophic, as it very nearly was on that occasion. I think we can all sleep a little easier at night knowing that that particular artefact is safely locked up in the Council Archives. Yes, by sealing it away and permitting it to be studied only by a select few, we might be hampering the greater understanding of magic, but the risk of letting it become common knowledge far outweighs the rewards. Regulation should be minimal, but not non-existent."

As far as Jellal was concerned, his ideology as a dark mage was one thing, but he didn't want to make it too easy for other dark cults to emulate his own achievements. He had worked exceptionally hard to get to where he was today. Allowing others to follow in his footsteps would devalue all his hard work, and the last thing he wanted was to help other dark mages become a threat to his world-destruction plans.

"I understand that. I'm not advocating anarchy here. But it isn't just dangerous magic that the Council likes to regulate, is it? If they could limit themselves to dealing with instruction manuals for dark magic, then I'd support them wholeheartedly, but banning entire theoretical treatises as being _morally dangerous_ because they discuss applications of their method to potential resurrection magic as well as to 'safe' topics like alchemy or earth magic? And that's not to mention the histories of magic censored or suppressed just because they challenge the right of the Council to govern magic. The thought that our own ruling body would enforce such a barbaric system in this day and age is outrageous."

"Oh?"

If it had come from any other member of the Magic Council, that single word would have been a warning, but they both already understood that their views on this matter weren't too dissimilar. It wasn't a dare – it was an invitation.

"They won't allow the publication of anything that openly challenges the Progressive view." Levy was not at all afraid to make her opinions known, no matter who she was discussing them with; the ease with which she could slip into technical language showed not just her own knowledge, but the respect she was subconsciously affording her conversational partner.

The 'Progressive' school of thought dominated both professional and lay images of the history of magic. More was known about magic now than in any given time before; mages, magical technology, and society as a whole continued to progress through time – thus, by extension, things were _better_ now than they ever had been. Today's mages were smarter and stronger than those a hundred years ago, just as human beings lived longer, had developed better medicines and technology, and understood far more about the natural world. It was, at first glance, a perfectly logical view, given that mages built on discoveries made by their ancestors and advanced the knowledge passed down to them by their teachers. It was also simplistic, naïve, and had not gone unchallenged.

Levy continued, "Since the Council was founded, the study of magic has been governed in its entirety by their rules, thus they take anything that isn't Progressive to be an attack on their way of doing things. They won't even allow opposing viewpoints to be heard!"

"True. Our publishing laws are old and outdated, so they still allow for the prohibition of any histories that don't contribute to the image of linear progress in magic. Which is ridiculous, really; no self-respecting scholar can hold to the Progressive argument in its original form. Everyone knows that the study of magic has regressed since the Time of Zeref."

Levy blinked at him bemusedly. "…By which you really mean, everyone knows that linear notions of progress or regress are fundamentally flawed and a socially-influenced gestalt switch model is the only adequate explanation, right?"

"No, I'm pretty sure that's not what I said," came the light response.

They stared at each other.

"Don't tell me you subscribe to the Regressive school!" Levy's shout of disbelief carried across the whole guildhall, though it attracted little attention – it apparently wasn't unusual for her to get worked up about things no one else understood.

"And I take it from that shout that you belong to our rivals, the Revolutionary school," came the calm response.

"But I thought you were _smart!_ " she burst out. "How on earth can you subscribe to the view that our knowledge of magic has gone backwards in four hundred years? It's crazy!"

"That is an ignorant and misleading caricature of the Regressive position," Jellal countered, completely at ease. "No one is disputing that mages today have a better grasp of how magic and nature work than anyone did back then. The central Regressive tenet is rather that specialization is, for the state of our discipline, a bad thing."

"But it is precisely specialization that has brought about all our advances in the knowledge of magic!"

"Again, I'm not disputing that. In terms of individual knowledge, the development of magical technology, and all that, then as a general rule, progress has been made. We understand more now than we ever did. But the cost of that knowledge was far too high."

"How so?"

"The study of magic became fragmented. Fire magic, for example, is considered utterly distinct from ice magic. Even though they are incredibly similar at heart, they each have their own languages, their own disciplinary rules and styles, and their own fields of study which refuse to communicate their findings or try and extend them to other areas. To learn the way of fire or ice is, in the minds of all modern mages, to forever exclude the other. Where mages in the past would have been capable of using almost every known type of magic, by drawing on their similarities rather than emphasizing their differences, mages today pick one type only and push it as far as they can, remaining forever ignorant of the others. When these fields of study became thus defined, when mages set down these boundaries in the name of progress, they began to place limits on magic itself.

"The same can be said for the discipline of magic as a whole. It redefined itself in a way that crippled it permanently. Magic now belongs to mages only, to the ten percent of the population who can physically manifest magic power, rather than to everyone. For someone who can't use magic to attempt to understand the theoretical side of the discipline invites scorn, whereas in the past so much of our understanding of magic was furthered by those who couldn't use it in practice but understood the theory better than any working mage. The study of magical creatures, even the creation of powerful artefacts – these academic fields were established by mages and non-mages together, before the former's sense of elitism and emphasis on the practical over the theoretical led them to drive the latter out. Likewise, only those who wield fire magic are _allowed_ to make discoveries in that field, and insights from other kinds of elemental magic are discredited simply because they've come from outside.

"Yes, modern scholars of magic know far more about their own disciplines now than their forefathers ever did, but in doing so, they were forced to relinquish their claims to understanding everything else. Philosophy, ethics, nature, science, _life itself_ – the study of magic could once explain all of these, but by defining itself as it has, by modernization, by _specialization_ , it has cut itself off from them all. Magic was once a great epistemological force. Now it's mostly used to hit people with. It has become merely a tool for the working mage; something that is used thoughtlessly by many, but studied, _truly_ studied, only by a handful of people, and never in the hope that it can further our understanding of the universe and of human nature. That is why we argue that magic has been in decline for the past four hundred years."

Levy was silent for a long period of time. Then, bluntly, she said, "That's so ludicrous I don't even know where to begin refuting it."

"Or maybe that's just because I'm right."

"Like hell. Magic can't explain ethics! That's mental!"

"Wrong. Magic _as it's studied today_ can't explain ethics. Magic, as it was understood back then, could."

"Well, any explanation it could possibly have come up with would be considered unacceptably ridiculous in any advanced society."

"But like all theories, it would have been revised and updated as our understanding increased, rather than the whole method and its explanatory power being abandoned when the Council took over and forced a redefinition of the concept of magic."

Levy shook her head vehemently. "I don't think it could have produced any kind of satisfactory explanation. If it could, it would never have been thrown out so easily. But even if we agree to disagree on that matter, there are plenty of other holes in your stance."

"Oh? Do elaborate."

They glared at each other. The book Jellal was supposed to be reading lay open on the table between them, completely forgotten. There was a fierce light in her eyes, and a dark glint in his; in fact, the haughty councillor looked as fired up about this intellectual match as Natsu had been about the physical battle he had so desired.

"For one thing," Levy began, "Your viewpoint hinges on the assumption that there was a Golden Age of magic during Zeref's time."

"Which there _was._ "

"No, there wasn't! The very concept of a 'Golden Age of Magic' was constructed a hundred years after it had ended, by anarchists who deliberately picked Zeref as their icon in their challenge to the Council's authority!"

"Epochs can only be labelled with hindsight; how else would you suggest doing it? And besides, what motivated the early anarchists is virtually irrelevant when their conclusions are so soundly supported by the evidence. The weight of it is simply overwhelming; the evidence has been corroborated a hundred times over and the position still stands today! Take a simple survey of the literature of the last ten years of that period, for example. More academic journals were established in that decade alone than in the entire century afterwards-"

"An often ill-quoted statistic which conveniently ignores the changing standards of publication enforced on the magical community at the end of the decade," Levy objected, folding her arms.

"Don't try that. There _is_ no consensus about the impact of regulation at the start of the Council's rule. If there's one thing historians agree on, it's that far too little survived of that era to draw any coherent picture from it at this time. The Council's destructive attitude towards everything, including their own legislation, saw to that. But it doesn't change the fact that people at the time believed they were living through a Golden Age of learning, even if the phrase wasn't coined until much later. I could give any number of examples from the most famous works of that period-"

"Self-promotion is hardly unique to that period! I could choose a book from the Fairy Tail Archives at random, published at any time between this so-called Golden Age and now, and not one of them will open with a declaration of how poor the state of the study of magic is in their own time. Attacking their own discipline is hardly going to sell books, is it?"

"If that's true, and I would happily dispute it, I would also point out that most volumes of that ilk are also Regressive, and hence aren't easy to spot because of the Council's tendency to censor anything that isn't ostensibly a Progressive history."

"But that's precisely my point. Societal standards, along with new printing technologies, influence publication, and show that the evidence you're so happy to quote is over-simplified and thus inconclusive without further study."

"So you're saying that history is underdetermined, and we should agree to disagree."

"No. You're still wrong," Levy assured him. "And just for the record, if I felt as though it wasn't clear which of our schools was right, I certainly wouldn't default to the one who idolizes history's greatest villain. That's not cool."

"I'm not prepared to compromise on historical fact just because the truth makes some people uncomfortable."

She gave a small smile; she couldn't disapprove of the sentiment. "And yet, ironically, you are prepared to compromise on historical fact by completely overlooking the concept of incommensurability."

"That's because it doesn't exist in any meaningful sense. And, incidentally, the tendency to invent long words for hollow concepts like that is one of the reasons why so many people find it hard to take your school of thought seriously."

"That, and the fact that almost all our core texts are on the Council's Index of Forbidden Books," Levy added, with a grin of comradeship.

"True. The Council are paranoid like that."

She laughed. "Given how keen you usually are to remind all of us in the guild that you're a member of the Magic Council, it's strange to hear you repeatedly referring to them as if you're not one of them."

 _Had_ he been doing? Well, it wasn't as if Jellal considered himself a true member of the Magic Council in his own mind, being a traitor and all, but… that was careless of him, wasn't it?

Levy was expecting some sort of response, so in a measured tone, he told her, "I haven't been on the Council for long. The Index comes up for review every five years or so; it has yet to happen during my tenure."

"That makes sense. Still, to think that there's someone on the Council who freely learns about dark magic, and holds such an unusual view… you're quite a remarkable man, Siegrain."

 _You don't know the half of it,_ he thought, but he managed to refrain from saying it out loud.

Fortunately, Levy hadn't finished talking yet. "You know, I love the history of magic, and language, and the complexity of ancient magical texts – and there's no one else around the guild that I can discuss them with. Most people run for the hills as soon as I even mention an old book. It's not just that you have an opinion on all that, but it's actually an informed opinion you can defend – even if it is completely wrong. It was fun talking to you. I wasn't expecting that… from a creepy pervert."

"I refuse to be labelled as creepy by someone who lurks under tables," came his predictably icy retort.

"Now, that sounds more like the Siegrain I know. Though, having said that…" Levy glanced up at the ceiling without finishing her sentence, giving the rafters a secretive smile.

"What?" he snapped, made uneasy by her attitude.

"There's a lot more to you than I thought, isn't there? When you're so caught up in talking about something that interests you, and you forget that you're supposed to be constantly rude and standoffish… you're actually not that bad."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

His annoyed response only made her grin. "You're still a pervert, but other than that, you're alright. Maybe I can better understand how Erza might be able to see something in you that no one else can."

If she had been expecting him to react positively to her declaration, she was disappointed. Having this girl talk to him so patronizingly set him on the defensive at once. How dare she analyse him as if she knew him? He had been in a good mood without even realizing it; having that pointed out to him by this infuriating girl immediately ruined everything.

"You're annoying me now," he snapped. "Go away."

Taken aback by his sudden hostility, she protested, "But- I'm only saying I'd help you-"

"Go and be helpful to someone else. I'm busy, and you're being irritating."

With a rueful smile, Levy got to her feet. "Yeah. I guess I did overdo it a bit, didn't I?" she mused, though it was more to herself than the councillor, who had already stopped listening to her. "Sorry. I'll leave you to it."

Jellal watched her walk away out of the corner of his eye. Good. Now he'd be able to focus. If he could get this report sent off to the Council today, then he could get back to devising a plot to kidnap Erza first thing tomorrow. No more distractions – and then he'd finally be able to get out of this accursed guild.

It occurred to him then that not once during that conversation had he thought about how much he resented being in the guild.

"Levy!" he called, without really meaning to.

Even as he wondered what on earth he was doing, she paused and turned back to him. "What is it?"

"I don't suppose you have a copy of Gregori's _Almanac_ that you could lend me for the afternoon, do you? This would be much easier if I had it to hand."

" _Might_ have," came her shifty response. A sly spark entered her eyes. "I'll lend it to you, _if_ you promise to take me into the Council Archives next time you go."

Jellal smirked; he wouldn't be outdone in a game like this. "Alternatively, you could lend it to me, and then maybe I won't arrest you for owning it."

"…Touché. I'll go grab it now." With a reluctant grin, she raised her hand in farewell and set off towards the exit.

Only once he was certain she was gone did Jellal allow himself to sigh. His gaze drifted around the room, automatically seeking out Erza, wondering if she'd used Levy as a distraction to slip out of the guildhall while he wasn't watching. As it happened, she was still stood with Mira, although they had clearly wrapped up their conversation because they were both staring directly at him.

He narrowed his eyes, a little of his usual irritable mood returning. "What're you looking at?"

"I was only wondering if this was the first time I'd seen you relax since you came to the guild, that's all," Erza answered.

What the hell was _that_ supposed to mean? "You must be imagining things," he scowled.

"Perhaps I am," she smiled.

Jellal hoped that would be the end of it, but they took it instead as an invitation to approach. "Is it just me," Mira breezed, "Or was that you and Levy bonding over a discussion about forbidden magic?"

"It was nothing of the sort. I was trying to work, and she was annoying me. That's all."

In the style he was quickly coming to realize was typical of a Fairy Tail mage, she paid his protests no heed. "This is one of the great things about mage guilds, though, isn't it? We have a lot more freedom than the Council's mages do. You couldn't have a debate like that around the Council Headquarters without causing all sorts of trouble."

"Well, _I_ could, it's my job," he muttered.

"But I imagine you wouldn't find anyone there so willing to tell you that you're wrong, and proceed to try and prove it with reference to blatantly banned texts."

"…No. No, I've never met anyone stupid enough to try that before."

"You know," Mira mused, "If you stopped being so rude to everyone you met, you might find that there are other people in the guild you have things in common with too. If nothing else, don't you think it would make your remaining days in the guild a little more enjoyable?"

Jellal levelled one of his best glares at her. "Nice try. Don't think that this is going to end with any outcome other than the Council disbanding your guild."

"Well, it was worth a shot," she grinned. "Oh, and speaking of the Council, I hope you've managed to get all your work done already…"

"Why would you say that?"

"Trouble's back."

At that moment the doors to the guildhall burst open and an exuberant Natsu strode in. "We're back!" he crowed, to no one in particular, raising his right hand high above his head in triumph.

At the opposite end of the enthusiasm scale, Lucy and Happy traipsed in behind him. "We're back…" they echoed gloomily.

"That didn't take long," Erza remarked.

Natsu made the victory sign. "Piece of cake."

"It was a _disaster_ ," Lucy moaned. "A complete and utter disaster."

"What happened?" Mira inquired, sitting down at the table to hear the story and casually ignoring the angry look Jellal threw the conversers for interrupting his working space.

"We were supposed to be helping this elderly gentleman clear out his attic, but to cut a long story short, Natsu was startled by a bat which had taken up residence there, and he accidentally set fire to a pile of old furniture while he was trying to drive it out. It was all going to be thrown out anyway, but the client argued that there may have been valuable antiques hidden in the pile Natsu destroyed, and refused to pay us."

Mira offered her a sympathetic smile. "Sounds like par for the course when working with Natsu."

"Tell me about it…"

"But it wasn't a total waste of time though!" Natsu interjected. As he strolled towards the group, it became clear that there was something metallic in his right hand, which he tossed to himself contentedly as he walked. "Sure, we might not have received any money for the work we did, but the client did let us keep this cool artefact we found in the attic instead!"

"Yeah, I'm hoping we'll be able to pawn it off," Lucy explained to the other girls. "Otherwise I'll never be able to pay this month's rent."

"We're not selling it!" Natsu objected. "Not until I've- hey!"

They would never find out what Natsu intended to do with the artefact, because at that moment Jellal reached over and plucked it out of his hands. Ignoring the boy's indignant shouts, he held it up towards the light, examining it with an expert eye.

It was a large medallion on a thick chain; far too heavy and cumbersome to be worn as a necklace. The medallion itself was in the form of an octagon, as large as the palm of his hand and a good inch thick. A vertical line bisected it; closer inspection revealed tiny hinges, which would allow the two halves to open out like doors.

Its most striking feature, however, was its creepy design. The plane surface of the octagon was carved to resemble a writhing mass of tentacles, so immaculately detailed that they seemed to move at the edge of his vision. Set within the appendages was a single eye, its pupil an inky black gemstone; unblinking darkness. There was nothing on the reverse side to give away any clues as to its purpose, and though Jellal attempted to prise open its doors, he wasn't surprised when they did not budge.

"What is this?" he wondered out loud.

"Costume jewellery?" Lucy guessed.

"Could be a prop from a horror show," Mira suggested. "It certainly invokes the right atmosphere."

"Could be an artefact of dark magic," Erza tried.

"Oh, come on, what would be the odds of that?" Mira asked, with a deliberately ironic grin.

The light-hearted comment only deepened Erza's frown. To Jellal, she asked, "I can't sense any magic from it – can you?"

"No, nothing. Either it's a completely harmless prop, or an incredibly well-made magical artefact. And I have my suspicions as to which one of those it is."

Lucy butted in, optimistically, "Does this mean it might be worth quite a bit…?"

Without replying, Jellal wrapped the medallion's chain around his left hand and held it up in front of him. Then he raised his other hand and shot a dazzling beam of light towards it from his palm.

Natsu let out an alarmed cry. "Hey! You'll break it!"

But when they looked again, blinking away the streak of light left against their vision, the artefact still swung, completely unharmed, from Jellal's hand. "No damage at all," he observed, somewhat unhappily, before seizing it tightly. "I'm confiscating this."

"WHAT?" Natsu screeched.

"My food money…" groaned Happy.

"My rent money…" Lucy echoed.

Natsu protested, "You can't do that!"

"Of course I can. I'm taking it back to the Council to examine it properly."

"But that's stealing!"

"No, it's responsible legal procedure. Under Article Ten of the Dark Magic Act, if I have good reason to believe that an item might be related to dangerous magic in some way, I'm required, by law, to send it to the Council for a proper examination. If it proves to be harmless, you'll get it back."

"But you're not a councillor any more!"

"I certainly am still a councillor, thank you very much. And even if I wasn't, temporarily being part of Fairy Tail has no bearing whatsoever on whether or not I have to follow the law. It's not like the two are mutually exclusive."

"Actually, about that…" Mira began brightly, earning herself a fierce glare.

"In short, it's suspicious, so I'm confiscating it under Article Ten. Understood?"

Rather than giving up, however, Natsu just folded his arms. "I think you're bluffing."

"…I beg your pardon?"

"I don't think this Article Ten exists. I think you're making it up."

"Oh, do you now? Want to go to the nearest Council outpost and check?"

They glared at each other. Lucy, Mira, Erza and Happy exchanged exasperated glances.

"Article Ten exists," came the authoritative tones of their Master, settling the debate at once.

Makarov walked towards them down the long table, which was not altogether an unusual setup for the diminutive man. The fact that he had to stand on furniture to make himself seen, however, belied the very real danger that this man posed – the silence that descended immediately upon the group as his mages quietened to listen was a far better indication of the respect he commanded. Jellal wondered if Makarov always wore his cloak with the emblem of the Wizard Saints on it, or if the old man had merely adopted the habit since Jellal had joined the guild as a display of power. They held the same rank, after all; if attaining the title at a mere nineteen years of age was an incredible achievement, so too was retaining it by the age of eighty-eight.

In response to Natsu's look of dismay, Makarov continued, "And I'm afraid it is exactly as he says, Natsu. If a suspicious artefact is found, the law requires it to be submitted to the appropriate authorities for examination."

" _Thank_ you," Jellal grunted. "Finally, someone with some common sense-"

Only, it was Jellal's turn to have the amulet snatched out of his hands. " _However_ ," Makarov added, a crafty glint in his eye as he examined it, "Article Ten also states that in the case of such a device being found by a guild mage, the first port of call need not be the Council itself, but the Guild Master. Only if said Master agrees it might be dangerous does it need to be sent to the Council. Isn't that right, Councillor Siegrain?"

"…That's right," he conceded unhappily.

Natsu rounded on him. "So you weren't going to mention that I only needed to ask Gramps's opinion on it, huh?"

"It's hardly my fault if you don't know the law, is it?" Jellal retorted. "Besides, it'll still end up going to the Council. It's obviously a dangerous artefact."

"On the contrary," Makarov corrected him. "This is a perfectly ordinary piece of costume jewellery."

"…You're joking, right?"

"Not at all," chirped the Guild Master.

"It's blatantly going to turn out to have dark magic in it! It reflected my magic perfectly!"

"It's unusually well-made costume jewellery, granted."

"Look, I'm trying to help you out here!" Jellal protested. "When that turns out to be a cursed artefact-"

"I think it'll make for a wonderful quirky centrepiece," the old man overrode him, tossing it happily to himself as he walked back towards the bar.

"You're making a mistake!" Jellal called after him.

"We shall see."

And then the old man was gone, leaving the astonished Wizard Saint surrounded by a bunch of smug guild mages.

Well, if they were willing to put themselves in danger just to spite him, what did he care? See if he was ever going to help them out again.

"This is going to end badly, you mark my words," Jellal vowed.

* * *

 _ **A/N:** Well, I think this one chapter has caused me more problems than the rest of the story put together. The first draft of Levy and Jellal's conversation was actually very easy to write - it just made literally no sense to anyone who hadn't studied the history of science. So I decided to rewrite the whole thing from scratch to make it more accessible. Then I rewrote it a third time. And it still wasn't working. Without that esoteric argument, I couldn't capture the dynamic of their relationship at all. The point isn't that they discover they have something in common - it's that they discover they both know a lot about a relatively niche subject, **and** that they both have completely opposing viewpoints regarding it. They don't like talking to each other so much as they like arguing with each other - a sophisticated argument that very few people would be able to participate in. From that comes a relationship based on mutual respect. Levy becomes the first person in the guild (other than Erza) that Jellal has any kind of respect for, and that, more than anything, will be the catalyst that starts to break down the walls between him and the rest of the guild. That just wasn't coming across in either of the other drafts. So I ended up reinstating the original version at the last minute, cutting out as much of the technical stuff as I could, and hopefully even if it wasn't as readable as I would have liked, it faithfully represents their evolving relationship between the previous chapter and the ones to come. Gah. It would be nice if all the interactions could be as easy to write as those between Jellal and Natsu. They've been by far the most fun._

 _Anyway, next week I'll be back in more familiar writing territory as everything kicks off. (Also with 10x more Erza; I haven't forgotten her, I swear). ~CS_


	8. Ancient Artefact

**Kidnapping Erza**

By CrimsonStarbird

* * *

 **Chapter Eight: Ancient Artefact**

The following morning, Jellal arrived at the guildhall to find it deserted.

It was so unexpected that he hadn't taken more than half a step inside before he froze. The entire building was empty. The silence pressed down upon his shoulders, evoking the feeling of an ancient cathedral rather than a place which, just yesterday, had been a hive of activity.

Dust mites danced in the sunbeams from the windows. Not a single thing was out of place: the chairs and tables were lined up like soldiers awaiting inspection; clean glasses were stacked upon the bar where Mira always stood; the draft from the open door rustled through the myriad of leaflets posted on the Request Board. There was no sign of a struggle. It was as if all the members of this accursed guild had just vanished into thin air.

Perhaps there _was_ a God.

Was everyone out working? Given the work ethic Jellal had observed from the guild over the past few days, that suggestion was laughable. It wasn't a bank holiday either, so that left a possible group outing that they had 'forgotten' to tell him about – but he prided himself on his observational skills; if such an event had been planned, he would surely have noticed the others arranging it. And yet he had heard nothing that could explain the abrupt absence of Fairy Tail mages at a time when the working day should have been in full swing.

Granted, he was fairly late in arriving this morning. Thanks to the nosiness of the Fairy Tail mages, he had been completely unable to focus on his Council work yesterday, and had had to redo the entire thing once he'd gone home for the day. It had taken him until the early hours of the morning to complete the report and send it off to the Chairman, at which point he had fallen into an exhausted sleep on his sofa.

His intention had been to sleep for as long as he needed – as far as he was concerned, it was the guild's fault that he was worn out, so they could hardly complain about him not coming in on time – but, as usual, all of Magnolia was conspiring against him. Between the summer's blazing sunshine, his apartment's lack of curtains, and the constant traffic beneath his window as traders trekked back and forth to set up their stalls in the nearby marketplace, he had given up on getting any rest mid-morning and dragged himself irritably to his temporary place of work instead.

Yet the guildhall, whose rowdiness would ordinarily have put the marketplace to shame, was utterly silent.

"Either this is some kind of practical joke," Jellal remarked, to no one in particular, "Or this is shaping up to be my best day in this stupid guild so far."

With a shrug to the empty air, he began to walk towards the Request Board.

Again, he only managed a few steps before coming to a halt. As much as he wanted to celebrate the apparent disappearance of the guild which had plagued his life for the past week or so, he wasn't a fool; this serendipitous turn of events was almost certainly going to end in disaster. He couldn't shake the feeling of wrongness that permeated the entire scene. He would never have survived this long as a dark mage if he couldn't trust his instincts, and every part of him was screaming that something here was badly wrong.

A glint of light caught his eye; scattered sunlight flashing off something metallic, swinging softly back and forth through the stillness. The medallion that Natsu had brought to the guild yesterday hung behind the bar, exactly where Makarov had left it. The thousand reflected suns, each one glinting from a face of its central black gemstone, gave that creepy eye a glimmer of malevolent intelligence.

"What're you looking at?" he growled.

He wasn't expecting a response from the inanimate object, but unfortunately the door to the guildhall chose that moment to crash open, and, already set on edge by the whole affair, he jumped a mile. Furious, he wheeled around to confront the ill-timed intruder – only to see Erza step through the entrance.

"Ah, Siegrain. Good morning."

"Morning," he grunted automatically.

"Where is everyone?"

"No idea. I just got here."

"That's odd. I was sure I was running late this morning. You see, a new patisserie has opened up in town and I had to check it out-"

"Cakes? It's not even lunchtime yet!"

"So? Pastries make a perfectly good breakfast. As do cakes, for that matter." There was bafflement in her voice, as if she genuinely couldn't understand why he'd brought it up. "But anyway, because of that detour, I was certain that everyone else would be working by the time I got here. I wonder if there's something going on today that I don't know about."

"I wonder," Jellal echoed. Erza seemed more curious than suspicious at the turn of events. Perhaps he was overreacting. Fairy Tail did have a rather strange definition of 'normal', after all.

Erza shrugged. "Ah well. That just means we'll get the first pick of jobs."

Then, as if suddenly realizing what she had said, she turned to him hastily, raising her hands. "Not that I'm saying we should do a job together or anything! I know you probably wouldn't want to do something like that with just me. What I meant was that we'd get to choose our separate jobs before anyone else in the guild gets here…"

Jellal wasn't listening to a word she was saying. A thought had just occurred to him: he was alone in this completely empty guildhall with the woman he needed to kidnap. Even better, Erza wasn't looking at him. Her embarrassed gaze was fixed on the floor as she rambled on about some nonsense. This was _perfect_.

There was no reason to hesitate. He had already waited long enough. One hand locked around Erza's wrist, pulling her swiftly off-balance as the magic within his body burst to life, ready to put her out of the fight before she could even work out what was going on-

An almighty crash. A shockwave. An eruption of splinters and dust.

And none of it was Jellal's doing.

In that moment of confusion, he panicked. Instincts that had kept him safe through years of living a double life took over. The magic he had been about to strike Erza with vanished; if he didn't have complete control of the situation, it was far too dangerous to act. Erza fell against him, completely unharmed, and they stumbled back a couple of paces before he could steady them.

"Siegrain?" she asked of him, mirroring perfectly his own puzzlement.

The floorboards where the two of them had been standing were smashed and broken, as if something heavy had collided with the ground; a fine dust of splinters and soil was presently settling over the destruction. And yet there was nothing that could have caused the damage. The room was still empty, still silent; not a thing was out of place.

And through the unnerving serenity, there came a muffled voice. "Erza! It's Erza!"

"Natsu?" Erza replied, seeking the source of the voice and finding the room still inexplicably empty. "Where are you?"

A chorus of other voices, ever so distant, rose up in the emptiness, all shouting Erza's name – only to fall silent again as Mira overrode them urgently. "Erza! It can sense your magic! You've got to get out of the guildhall!"

After that, several things happened at once. Jellal pinpointed the source of the voices – although they echoed as if from a great distance, they were definitely coming from the medallion hanging on the wall. It had changed. The twin panels decorating the octagon, which had resisted his attempt to prise them apart, now hung open like doors. Inside, the space contained a mirage-like shimmer, making it impossible to see what lay beyond – but the sinister magic radiating out from it was unmistakeable. That was where the shouting had come from.

Before he could act on that knowledge, Erza was suddenly gone from his arms, leaving him clutching empty air. An invisible force wrenched her away from him; he lunged for her, and she reached for him, but their fingertips missed by millimetres and she was inexplicably hurtling through the air towards the open amulet. "Erza!" he screamed without thinking.

Erza's eyes flashed. In one smooth motion she drew her sword and slashed down in front of her. Though neither of them could see what was pulling her, she could clearly feel _something,_ and sure enough the blade was stopped by the empty air. She pulled her sword back, gripped it with both hands, and swung again; this time, her strength won out, and the blade cut cleanly through whatever it was that had grabbed her.

She began to fall, but immediately she was in control, righting herself and landing atop one of the tables in an elegant crouch. Scarlet hair fanned out behind her; the sunlight blazed from her armour, a warrior clothed in light. For a moment Jellal was completely frozen, unable to do anything but stare as she slowly rose to her feet, and then Mira's warning shout rang out through the guildhall once more.

Annoyed, Jellal gave his head a firm shake. "Erza!" he snapped as he ran towards her. "Suppress your magical presence. Now!"

She cast him a baffled glance. "I am doing!"

"More! Conceal it completely!" And then, a little alarmed, he added, " _Can_ you?"

She gave a single nod. Pushing aside all thoughts of the invisible thing which had grabbed her, she closed her eyes and concentrated. He felt her magic, so resolute and so painfully familiar, draining away from his senses until even he could no longer detect it. One long moment passed, and then another, and when nothing tried to strike them again, Jellal felt his heartrate returning to normal. A quick glance over to the swinging amulet revealed that its doors had closed once again; it had returned to its dormant state.

Erza hopped down from the table to stand beside him, sheathing her sword. "It's that artefact, isn't it? It was trying to drag me inside. Is that what happened to the rest of the guild, do you think?"

"Seems that way," came Jellal's neutral response. Of course, rather than the fate of the others, he cared a lot more about the danger the artefact posed to him, so he pressed her, "What grabbed you? What did it feel like?"

"I'd say it was…" She thought for a moment. "Like a giant invisible tentacle. This wide," she added, gesturing about a six-inch diameter with her hands, "And strong enough to break the floor with speed behind it, but not strong enough to crush my armour, though it tried. It was slimy and tough, but no match for my sword."

"The invisible limbs must come out from inside when the doors open, and it tries to drag mages into its extradimensional prison. It must work by sensing magic. That's why it didn't attack me when I entered, and only went for you – because I'm far better at hiding my magical presence than anyone else in the guild."

"I think it's more that you're the only one who feels the need to fully conceal their power around the guildhall," Erza replied, with a little exasperation. "The rest of us consider ourselves to be amongst friends."

Jellal ignored that. "Still, to think that everyone in the guild could be caught so easily… I knew the guild was pathetic, but this is a new low, even for you lot."

"I couldn't use magic while I was in its grasp," Erza informed him. "I don't know how, but it was suppressing my power. I couldn't have Requipped – if I hadn't had my sword to hand, I'd have been in trouble. Once it has someone, it's over for them; it would be no different for you. Besides, most people don't expect to be attacked by an invisible monster the moment they step into the guildhall. It would have been an easy matter for it to pick them off one by one as they arrived to start work."

"I suppose so."

Now that the medallion had closed again, the voices of the trapped guild members had stopped. The silence, however, was a lot less oppressive than before. In fact, it was almost pleasant.

"Well, bye," Jellal said to Erza, and he strode towards the exit.

She stared at him in astonishment. "Siegrain! Where on earth are you going?"

"Back to the Council," he answered, looking at her as if she were stupid. "Since the guild that was blackmailing me appears to have come to an unfortunate end."

There was a blur of motion as Erza planted herself firmly between him and the exit. "You can't leave! Our friends need our help!"

" _Your_ friends, Erza," he corrected her coolly. "Not mine."

She stepped swiftly to the side, blocking his attempt to walk around her. "Surely no respectable member of the Magic Council can just walk away when mages are in danger!"

Jellal shrugged. "They're still alive, aren't they? Just trapped in some extradimensional space. Best place for them, if you ask me."

"But they might never be able to get out on their own!"

"Hey, if you recall, _I_ was the one who warned you that the amulet was dangerous. All this could have been avoided if you'd just let me take it to the Council for analysis, but _no_ , you all thought you knew better than the person who has spent their entire career dealing with cursed artefacts. I did my best to prevent this, and hence nothing that comes as a result of it has anything to do with me. This is what your guild gets for not listening to me."

"…Very well." Shaking her head in disbelief, Erza stepped aside to let him leave. "If that's how you feel, then fine. I won't stop you. Go somewhere safe, so that I don't have to worry about protecting you while I'm fighting. I'll do this on my own."

"…Do what?"

"Rescue my friends, of course."

"You're going to take on that creature by yourself?" Jellal gave a bewildered laugh. "That's suicide!"

"I don't care. I ran away once before; I abandoned my friends to a lifetime of imprisonment because I was too scared to go back. If I do the same now, what was the point of the past eight years? I won't run when my guild needs me. I will find a way to save them, no matter what."

A coldness entered Jellal's eyes. He couldn't care less what happened to the rest of the guild, but Erza was another matter entirely. Her life belonged to him; she had no right to throw it away in such a pointlessly one-sided battle. _He_ was the one who was going to sacrifice her.

"It's far too dangerous. I won't let you do that."

Prepared to remove her from the guildhall by force if necessary, he reached for her – only for her to seize his wrist. "Then help," she told him fiercely.

Once, she had been so scared of him that she could not even meet his gaze. Now, as she stared deep into his eyes and commanded him to help her, it was as if that timid, traumatized girl had never even existed.

In that moment, he didn't see an armoured mage, or even Fairy Tail's fearsome champion Titania. He saw Erza, as he had always known her; as if she had never been broken.

So what if the task was impossible? She would not give up until she had been granted a miracle. That was the determination that had sparked a revolution. To do anything for her friends without a thought for her own safety; that was the compassion that had brought them all together and given them the happiness of comradeship when they had nothing else. In her defiance and her ferocity and her resolve blazed a star of hope that not even the blackest night could dim, a pure light born in the foulest of places, and forever shining, no matter how much time went by.

He saw, in that moment, the girl he desired to sacrifice: incredible, impossible, captivating; radiant in a way that not even the most carefully preserved memory could do justice to. Her, and only her.

He opened his mouth to refute her and found that the words would not come. How could he turn her down, when this was the Erza that he wanted more than anything else in the world?

"…Siegrain?" she wondered, bemused. "Are you alright? Only, it's a little creepy, you staring at me like that…"

The moment shattered like glass; Jellal glanced off to the side, his usual scowl playing across his face. "Fine, I'll help. We're going to-"

Erza cut across him; she already had a plan. "When the panels on the front of the medallion open, it reveals the entrance to the pocket dimension within it, where it is holding our fellow guild members hostage. I suspect that if we simply destroy it, that space will be sealed off forever, so we need to get them out first."

"Probably," he conceded. "I imagine it can't be destroyed when it's closed either, since it reflected my magic perfectly yesterday."

Nodding, she continued, "The magic it is using bears strong resemblance to how I access my own extradimensional space with Requip. If we can get it to open again, I think I'll be able to hijack its dimension and hold the portal open so that the others can get out."

"…That's possible?"

"Obviously," she said, though she was probably the only person in the world who would have found it obvious. "So while I'm doing that, you'll have to be the decoy and keep those tentacles away from me."

"What?" he choked. "Why do I have to put my life on the line for this stupid guild?"

"If you think you can force its dimension open, we can swap roles."

"You know I can't do that," Jellal grumbled.

"Then be the decoy."

"Look, it's easy for you to say that, but how am I supposed to dodge these things if I can't even see them?"

Erza shot him a curious look. "I thought you could sense them. Isn't that how you were able to pull me out the way of the first one just in time?"

"…Yes. Yes, that's exactly what happened. I can sense them. Sort of." When she turned away, he added under his breath, "Oh, crap…"

"Are you ready?"

Jellal took a deep breath and slowly let it out again. "Erza, no matter how well you hide your magical presence, you do know that as soon as you actively turn your magic on it, it'll be able to sense you, right?"

She rested her hand on his shoulder, the heat from her body resonating with the power inside him. "Shine," she told him sincerely. "Shine so brightly it can't see anything else."

 _But you're the one who shines, Erza,_ he thought. _Not me._

Not noticing his hesitation, she turned all her attention towards the medallion at last. She extended one hand towards it; the other rested on the hilt of her sword as insurance. As Jellal walked to the other side of the room, she called to him, "Yell if you get caught. I'll try to cut you free before it can drag you inside."

"I won't get caught," he rebuffed haughtily. "You do your job, and I'll do mine."

Erza smiled to herself. "Ready when you are."

Jellal stood atop one of the long tables with his eyes closed. First he removed the white overcoat he always wore and cast it aside; a sure sign he was taking this battle seriously. Then he stretched, long and slow, and a shudder ran through his entire body at the promise of action. As his pulse quickened, he curled his right hand into a fist and placed it over his heart, seeking out a tangible connection to the source of power within him. It responded at once: a thunder in his heartbeat; an eagerness stronger than adrenaline; that feeling of being truly alive.

He released the seal in his mind and let that power flood into the air around him. So much energy, so much _magic_ – his body could not contain it, and it radiated out from him in shimmering waves, so strong that it blazed with a light all its own. He sensed more than saw the sinister gaze of the amulet turn upon him.

The table below him cracked in two under the impact from an unseen assailant, but he was already gone. With that golden light around him he completed one lap of the room in no time at all, always staying one step ahead of those lashing tentacles. The confined space of the guildhall capped his speed, but his perfect control more than made up for it, and he soared and arced through the air with enviable grace. He streaked past a window and in the next instant it shattered as the glass took the full brunt of the attack that had been meant for him.

Unable to see the flailing appendages, he was relying on luck and speed to keep him safe – but just because he was severely disadvantaged against this opponent didn't mean he couldn't fight back. He looped around a pillar, which acquired a sharp crack as if from nowhere, before suddenly doubling back on himself, flipping around in the air with impossible speed simply by exerting his will and letting his magic do the work for him. His hand flashed out; an arc of light burst from his palm.

He may not have been able to see his target, but he knew where the tentacle must have been to have damaged the pillar in that way, and his reaction times were like lightning. He heard something large and lifeless thudding to the ground, and he felt a rush of satisfaction – although he was already at the other side of the room by then, not letting his guard down for an instant, weaving unpredictably to throw off its continuing attacks.

It was on his third lap of the guildhall that he noticed how, despite his success, not much else was going on in the room. Erza was deep in concentration. He couldn't sense her magic over the incredible roar of his own power set free, but she _was_ carrying out the plan, wasn't she?

"Erza!" he called to her as he passed. "Why aren't they coming out? Are you opening it?"

"I'm doing it!" she returned. "I think there's some sort of barrier across the space, which can only be broken from this side. They can't come through on their own."

Jellal glanced from Erza, who was breathing heavily under the effort of forcing open another's extradimensional space, to the darkly glittering medallion, and let out an audible growl. "I bloody hate this guild," he swore, and swerved to fly directly towards it.

It had been waiting for him to try that. He only made it halfway before something struck him from above. The next thing he knew the ground was right in front of him; he smashed into the floorboards, bounced, and half-rolled, half-sprawled across the ground. He could see nothing but black and he didn't know if this was because he was facing down into the floorboards or if some part of him was broken-

 _Don't stop!_

Survival instinct screamed those words in his head and he was somehow once again in motion, blindly diving across the floor. For one horrifying moment he felt a force pressing against his front and his back, but his magic kicked in and he was gone before the coils could constrict. The world snapped back into place in his vision – and the next thing he knew he had made it to the amulet and thrust a hand into its shimmering heart.

The tell-tale touch of dimensional magic crackled along his skin. The information he was receiving from his senses of sight and touch no longer matched; as waves of disorientation threatened to overwhelm him, he closed his eyes and focussed entirely on what he could feel. There was something pressing back against him – a membrane of sorts, elastic and unpleasantly damp. If those trapped within the artefact had their magic suppressed, it might well have been an insurmountable obstacle, but the energy radiating from his hand tore it to shreds in an instant.

Something grabbed his hand. Alarm sparked within him, but he felt magic pulsing in that grip, a passionate heartbeat completely distinct from the creature's slimy otherness, and he resisted the urge to fight it off. Pushing all his power into acceleration, he reversed direction and launched him and the person hanging on to him away from the cursed artefact.

They made it halfway across the room before one of the lashing tentacles struck him from the side and he hurtled towards the floor once again. It wasn't just that there was great strength and whip-like speed behind the blows – taking damage unexpectedly was doubly dangerous when the shock alone could cause his magic to fail.

It had learnt from last time, too. There was another limb waiting to grab him the moment his collision with the ground had eaten most of his momentum. It coiled firmly around his wrist, jerking him to a halt. He let out a startled cry as his connection to his magic snapped at once.

"Siegrain!" Erza shrieked, clearly torn between the desire to spring over and help, and the risks of giving up her hold on the amulet's magic.

 _Don't you dare_ , he thought viciously. _Don't you dare come over here to help me-_

There was a flash of fire and the pressure at his wrist vanished. The next thing he knew there was someone at his back, a familiar magical presence he would have resented at any other moment. Natsu raised his arms and a ring of flames encircled the two of them, burning up all the tentacles that had been closing in.

"Hey, these things aren't so bad when you know they're coming," Natsu remarked over the roaring of the fire. Jellal gave a grunt of acknowledgement – the closest thing Natsu was ever going to get to a thank you. Unperturbed, the boy exclaimed, "Oh, I've had a _great_ idea! Since you won't fight me, let's make this into a competition to see which of us is the strongest! Whoever destroys the most invisible tentacles wins! What do you say?"

"I don't think you've really thought this through. How are we supposed to keep track of who's in the lead when we can't even see the bloody things?"

Natsu grinned at him over his shoulder. "Did you maybe lie to Erza about being able to sense them?" he teased.

"Oh, shut up," the other growled.

"This is your own fault for trying too hard to impress her!"

"I said, shut up!"

A startled yelp cut off their argument: Erza. One writhing tentacle struck her a chance blow and sent her spinning through the air. Without hesitation, Jellal burst through the dissolving halo of fire and shot towards her. He collided bodily with something solid and slimy, knocking the tentacle off-course before it could snatch Erza out of the sky. At the same time, Natsu had also leapt into action; he unleashed his breath attack into the space between her and the artefact, and the cone of dragon's fire disintegrated any further assaults before they could reach her.

Erza landed, and even before she had regained her balance she was stretching her right hand out towards the amulet once again. Its doors, which had been swiftly closing, ground to a halt as she exerted her power. Gritting her teeth, she forced them to edge back open.

She explained to them, "It knows it's in danger. It's trying to seal off its dimension; cut its losses. If I lose control, it'll close for good, and then we'll have no chance of rescuing our friends."

When Jellal looked at her, he could see the signs of strain she was desperately trying to hide: the beads of sweat on her forehead; the slight tremble in her outstretched arm; her heavy breathing. Maintaining the torrent of power flowing out of her body wasn't just tiring – using her magic in such an unusual way was a far greater challenge for her than she had wanted to let on. Still, her voice was strong, resounding with the foolhardy determination that had led her to accept this task in the first place.

Jellal realized with a start that his own magical presence had almost dropped back to normal. Irritated, he urged it to blaze again, and he felt that sinister presence focus on him once more. It was becoming increasingly difficult to project such an overwhelming aura as he consumed more and more of his power – but if the artefact's attention turned to Erza instead…

His sharp eyes danced across to Natsu. "We've got to prioritize protecting Erza. The next person we rescue has to be capable of that."

"Gray's good at that sort of thing," Natsu suggested. "Though, don't tell him I said that."

"Heard you loud and clear, Natsu," came Gray's smug voice, echoing out from the amulet. "We _can_ hear pretty much everything going on out there, you know…"

Natsu pulled a face. "Now that I've said that, you'd better not let me down, Gray."

"Ready at this end!" the ice mage shouted.

"Hey, Siegrain," Natsu spoke up suddenly.

"What?"

"New competition. First one to get Gray out of there wins."

Jellal glanced from the eager boy to the malevolently glinting amulet, and a spark danced in his eyes. "You're on."

Natsu grinned, and then the two of them were sprinting towards the goal. Jellal was unquestionably faster with that power shining around him, but he was also drawing the artefact's attention; it was far too dangerous for him to take a direct route. Survival instinct grappled with his desire to win – he spiralled and swerved through the air, trying not to fall behind without putting himself in danger. He slid underneath the long table, using it as cover against the thrashing tentacles, while Natsu ran atop the adjacent one.

They emerged from the far end neck and neck, and then Jellal was in the air again, placing one foot between Natsu's shoulder blades and applying pressure. Natsu was sent sprawling along the ground with an indignant cry. Jellal couldn't help laughing as he reached the goal and punched straight through the membrane covering the portal.

This time, the disorienting feeling of existing in two places at once only lasted for a moment. A second hand immediately grabbed his own and he was already gone, dragging Gray out of the portal. He was getting the hang of travelling with the extra weight now; he carried them both safely to the other side of the room and dropped the ice mage next to Erza before shooting off again.

Gray had summoned a thick barrier of ice between them and the artefact before Natsu had even managed to extract himself from the brand new hole in the floorboards. "That wasn't fair!" protested the Dragon Slayer.

Wheeling round in mid-air, Jellal shattered another tentacle with magic just milliseconds after it smashed another window. "It's hardly my fault you failed to specify any rules, is it?" he smirked.

Natsu grumbled something under his breath, and then shouted again, "Well, the next one's mine!"

If the sound of raised voices coming from within the amulet was any indication, however, rescuing the next person wasn't going to be quite so simple. They appeared to be arguing amongst themselves; clamouring for the attention of those on the outside. Jellal felt his irritation return in full force. "This is exactly why I hate guild mages," he snarled to himself, even as he ripped apart a limb that had been hammering against the front of Gray's shield.

"What's going on in there?" Erza asked of Gray, who shook his head.

"They were arguing over who would be able to help the most if they came out first. No one wants to be inside any longer than they have to."

The annoyance flashing in Erza's eyes would have put Jellal's to shame. "Is this what Fairy Tail becomes the moment there's a crisis? I'm disappointed."

"It's not quite as simple as that," Gray added. "For example, Juvia said she thought she had a way of making the tentacles visible, but there are many people in the guild who don't trust her – they're still angry about her role in the guild war. The pressure of the situation is turning mistrust into outright conflict."

Erza shot him a sharp glance. Despite her obvious exhaustion, there was no denying the authority in her voice. "Do _you_ trust her?"

"I believe that her desire to make up for what she did in the past and become a true member of our guild is genuine," he replied without hesitation. "Lucy, Mira and Levy would also vouch for that, I'm sure."

"I see." And with that, she raised her voice over the melee. "All of you in there, shut up!" They fell silent immediately. It wasn't a good idea to defy Erza when she was cross, let alone when their lives were entirely in her hands. "Thank you. Now, Juvia. Can you help us fight?"

A quiet, but determined, response: "Juvia thinks she can."

It was immediately followed by an uproar, which died away just as quickly as Erza yelled at them again. "Juvia's next, and if I hear another word of complaint, I'll close the portal and you can all stay in there!"

There were no further protests. No one was brave enough to call her bluff.

Natsu dashed forwards to pull Juvia free; Jellal covered for them with a rain of golden light from the ceiling. No sooner had Juvia made it to a safe distance than she turned back towards the amulet and raised both her hands. A great orb of water materialized above her palms. Then it split to form two smaller orbs, and again, and again, repeatedly doubling in number and reducing in size, until they were so small they could hardly be seen. Juvia gestured with her arms and they scattered in all directions, filling the hall with a fine mist. The droplets clung to everything: their hair, their clothes, their skin – and the tentacles. Tiny refracting hemispheres traced out the outlines of those writhing limbs.

For the first time, they could see what they were up against. From the shimmering extradimensional haze in the medallion's centre emerged ten distinct tentacles. At their thickest, they were up to a foot in diameter, tapering to a fine point at the end; some were long enough to reach all the way from the far wall to the main entrance. If they had been faced with that sight at the start of the battle, all of them might have had second thoughts about participating.

As if aware that Juvia was the one who had exposed them, two tentacles lashed towards her; she flipped neatly between them and landed on one of the undamaged tables, her eyes burning. "Juvia will not let you touch her guild," she vowed.

"Juvia, that's fantastic!" Gray marvelled.

As if a switch had been thrown, Juvia's solemn exterior vanished, leaving behind an aura of bubbly happiness. "Gray praised Juvia! Ah, Juvia is so happy!"

The moment she took her eyes off the fight, a giant tentacle swept down towards her – only for Jellal to crash into it feet-first, driving it into the floor where it broke apart under the impact. His gaze met hers for a brief moment. "Seriously?" he hissed. And then, with that scathing comment, he was gone again, leaving Juvia to give an embarrassed smile and return her attention to the battle.

At long last, the tables were beginning to turn. Erza was safe while Gray's shield held firm, allowing Jellal to rein in his power and stop drawing all the fire. With Juvia's mist rendering the enemy weapons visible, he could dodge a lot more efficiently, stopping the unsustainable drain on his power. He remained circling up by the ceiling, providing covering fire for those on the ground below with neat and accurate blasts of light, while Natsu took over dragging people out through the portal.

With every mage they rescued, the odds seemed to swing a little more in their favour. Jellal had been fighting the longest, and was nearing his limit, but it hardly mattered when their team was gaining fresh reinforcements every minute. They could handle the rest. Most of them were more than a match for their opponent now that its limbs had become visible. And, to Fairy Tail's credit, they were good at looking out for one another. The moment one mage was ensnared by those coils, someone else was there to cut them free before they could be pulled back inside. Maybe this wasn't such an impossible task after all.

Spotting an opening, Jellal dived like a hunting hawk into a gap in the mass of tentacles and reached into its heart once again. He circled round to the far end of the room with Levy clinging onto his arm to find a place to land safely. Lucy's Bull Spirit Taurus immediately stepped up to cover for them, so that Jellal could catch his breath. The continual use of magic was beginning to hurt; if not for his determination not to give up before Erza did, he would probably have left the Fairy Tail mages to it already and gone to take a rest somewhere safe.

Levy glanced up at the semi-visible mass of tentacles engaged in a life-or-death battle with her guild, and grimaced. "That's one intimidating sight."

"It's nothing I can't handle," Jellal returned.

"So I see," she remarked, with a faint smile. But as she watched the creature foil Natsu's latest attempt to get close by flinging him straight through a pillar, her smile was replaced by a look of puzzlement. "Just a thought, though. Did it always have that many tentacles? Only – and I don't mean this in an offensive way, so don't snap at me – if it had that many at the start, there's no way you could have got close enough to get Natsu out. It could have formed a solid wall between it and you and still had enough arms left over to try and grab you with."

To her relief, logic seemed to win out over his readiness to take offence. "You know, I was thinking it ought not to have any tentacles left by now."

They exchanged glances. "Do you think there might be a chance it's growing another two for every one that we destroy?"

It wasn't Jellal who answered, however, but Erza, drawing their attention back to her. "I think Levy's right," she interjected. "There are far more now. You're the only one who's managed to get close for a while."

She was in a bad way. It was easy for Jellal to forget, just because she wasn't flying through the sky and flashing her magic around like he was, that she was the one with the most difficult job. The immense strain on her body was evident from the way she couldn't stop herself from shaking.

Yet that last thing she wanted was sympathy, and she cut across him before he could say anything. "It's hard to tell for sure. I think they do regrow and multiply when they're destroyed… but it takes a few seconds. I think I can slow it down. If you destroy them all at once- I might be able to give you a two-minute opening."

"Then that's what we've gotta do." This was Natsu, having headed over to them to find out what the commotion was about. "I'll take them all out!"

After a moment or two spent gathering his power, he unleashed a full cone of fire towards the artefact's heart. Heat intense enough to instantly evaporate the water clinging to their skin washed over them; it seemed that even the tentacles were recoiling from the power of it. However, although the flames left many of the appendages shrivelled and smoking, thrashing around in pain before dissolving into nothing, most of them had escaped unscathed.

Natsu cursed. "The ones in front are completely shielding the ones behind, but I can't use a larger blast without endangering our friends as well. We should have thought of this earlier – there are just too many now."

"Not for me," Jellal said.

"Siegrain-" Erza began, turning to look at him in warning, but he ignored her. She had no right to patronize him, not when she was the one who had roped him into this in the first place – and certainly not when she was grappling with exhaustion just as much as he was.

He stretched his right arm out to the side and concentrated. A shining circle of magic, almost as large as he was, burst into existence in front of his palm. To its centre he touched his other hand, letting the swirling power run over his fingertips, feeling for the strands of magic and weaving them around his fingers, forming a connection with the energy that transcended a physical bond. "Erza, ready?"

"Ready."

He grasped hold of that energy and pulled. From the void in his mind it surged forth into the material world, manifesting as a swarm of golden arrows which shot towards the amulet. His aim for each and every one of them was perfect; despite the tentacles' best attempts to swing aside or use the battling mages as human shields, every single one hit home. A wave of explosions rippled across the medallion's surface.

All of a sudden there was not one amulet hanging from the far wall, but two. Panic stabbed deep into Jellal's heart. If it could regrow two tentacles for each one it lost, had destroying all of them at once caused the body itself to multiply?

But it wasn't the only thing that had doubled in the room: there were two Erzas, two Natsus, two tables in front of him. He blinked, but his vision would not return to normal – and then he felt the true terror of knowing that there was something wrong with him and being unable to do a single thing about it.

Someone shouted his name and the world begrudgingly collapsed back down to single images. There was chaos all around him but he hardly noticed it, placing his hands on the table and using it to support his weight as he gasped for breath. He had never before felt so weak; in so much danger. Physical exhaustion wasn't usually an issue for him, since he could compensate for it so easily with his magic that he rarely noticed it, but when combined with the mental exhaustion that came from overuse of magic…

He may have been arrogant, but he wouldn't have survived for so long if that attitude wasn't increasingly tempered by an instinct for self-preservation the more danger he was in, and he couldn't remember the last time he had been pushed so close to his limits. So much for them having the situation under control. There was no way he could keep this up.

Fortunately, the Fairy Tail mages had been able to seize the opportunity he and Erza had created, and with the threat temporarily nullified they had managed to pull a lot of their friends to safety. "That's got to be everyone, hasn't it?" he demanded, to anyone who might have been within earshot. "Are we done?"

"Hmm," Levy frowned. "I think that's about half the guild."

"HALF?" he exclaimed in utter horror.

Concern entered her gaze; she was about to reach out to him, possibly to offer support, but after one look at the anger he was projecting, she thought better of it.

The creature was back in action already. The mass of tentacles had now grown to a monstrous scale; the shimmering spatial distortion that somehow allowed so many limbs to emerge from a single point had become so strong it gleamed like an otherworldly mirror.

Natsu grimaced as he glanced up at it. "There's no way we can get close now. Siegrain, do that again!"

"Again?" he howled. "Are you serious?" Somehow, he was standing upright; somehow, there was light burning at his right palm. "I hate this guild. I hate it, I hate it, I hate it!"

His muttering became a wordless yell as he forced the great magic circle to take form once again. The magic, that energy, slipped through his exhausted fingers, doggedly evading his attempts to create a link with it. He yelled again in anger and something caught in his mind; a single thread of light snagged around his little finger. He seized it and dragged it towards him, ignoring the biting pain as he wrapped it around his hand. He needed twice as many this time. Countless bolts of light streaked out from the dissolving seal, each one finding its target with unerring accuracy.

This time, his vision went completely black. The roar of a fictitious waterfall drowned out all other sounds. He was still conscious, somehow; still counting his breaths one by one by one; still standing, defying the pull of gravity as it tried to tempt him down into that welcome nothingness. He did not dare to move. He was certain that the slightest motion would break this tenuous equilibrium and send his body into shock.

Even when the creature began to act again, he was still frozen to the spot, blind to the fact that if Natsu and Levy hadn't rushed over to protect him from the renewed assault, he would already have been caught. He could hear them shouting to each other over the rush of sound, every one of them now forced onto the defensive by the magnitude of the onslaught. Streaks of colour and flashes of magic returned to his vision, as he slowly clawed his way back from the edge of unconsciousness, but what was the point now?

Although the Fairy Tail mages had used the opening to make progress rescuing their comrades, the fact that they were still fighting told him that there were more people to save. He knew he couldn't call magic that strong again, let alone with twice as much power, no matter how much Natsu was shouting at him. They couldn't win this. It was impossible.

As if in response to his thoughts, it was at that moment that Gray's ice shield shattered. He was thrown backwards with a cry as his magic failed; he slammed into a broken pillar and slumped down to lie still at its foot.

With him down, Erza was vulnerable.

Before any of them could react, it was upon her; merciless, ravenous, dominating. She reached for her sword but it was wise to that trick now, crushing the hilt against her body and tightening until she could not breathe. It wrapped around her neck and lifted her, helpless, into the air. Tentacles slithered across her exposed skin. She struggled against their horrifying touch but could not break free, could not even find the breath to cry out, could only shudder in horror as it sought to inflict as much pain and humiliation as possible upon the one who had defied it for so long.

Something snapped in Jellal then. Paralysis broken, he was sprinting towards Erza without knowing what he would do when he got there or how he would find the strength to do it. There was only one thought in his mind and he screamed it to the world: "YOU CAN'T HAVE HER!"

Ferocious magic ignited within him, seizing control of his motion, and the next thing he knew he was up in the sky at Erza's side. Arcs of light burst out from his body like circular blades of energy, tearing effortlessly through the tentacles binding her as he twisted through the air. She fell and so did he, only to find themselves facing another barrage of attacks.

Jellal hadn't even reached the floor when another tentacle struck him, flinging him towards the far wall. He almost blacked out still in the air. Unconsciousness was tempting. That way he wouldn't have to feel the pain of his landing, let alone have to suffer through any more of this hopeless fight-

 _Not good enough._

Somehow his feet found purchase on the wall, and he pushed off again before he could fall.

 _Don't you dare let it take her; don't you dare-!_

His magic came to him again, and he slipped between the thrashing tentacles and snatched Erza out of the sky. The floorboards cracked beneath him as he landed, Erza held tightly in his arms. Her eyes were closed, and she was trembling; Jellal glared at the object hanging on the far wall in new hatred.

 _See?_ he thought savagely. _She's mine. You can't have her!_

"Siegrain!" Another shout – Juvia's – provided a sharp reminder that people other than he and Erza existed in the world. There were no moments of reprieve in this madness. Pressurized arcs of water tore through the appendages bearing down on them as Juvia ran up beside him. " _Now_ who's not paying attention?" she added, with a pointed glance from him to Erza in his arms.

"I'll look after Erza," Natsu offered, lifting her away before Jellal could object and setting her down beside Gray. "You need to keep fighting."

"What's the point now? The artefact will have sealed off its dimension the moment it began suppressing Erza's magic."

The Dragon Slayer shook his head, indicating the amulet, whose doors were still wide open. "She's not the only one in here who can use Requip. We're a pretty resourceful guild, you know." Then he grinned; a familiar scowl had appeared on Jellal's face at the mention of the guild he detested. Over at the far side of the hall, a young woman with pale green hair and a cowboy hat had taken up Erza's earlier position, facing down the amulet with her arm outstretched, while a mage wielding magical guns shot down anything that got close to her.

"Requip isn't a main part of Bisca's magic, though," Natsu added, as an afterthought. "I doubt she'll be able to keep it up for more than a minute or two, not like Erza. We have to finish this now."

"How?" Jellal demanded.

Natsu looked at him like it was obvious. "Hurry up and do that thing with the light rays again."

"Natsu, I _can't!_ "

"Don't give me that," he grinned. "What kind of lousy Wizard Saint can't keep up with mere guild mages?"

"…Fine. Fine! I mean, the laws of magic aren't a big deal. They're basically just glorified suggestions. And magic power, that's a completely arbitrary quantity, isn't it? Who cares if you run out? Just make more through sheer willpower; that's how it works, right?"

Despite his incensed muttering, he was holding out his shaking arm, manifesting that great golden seal once more – three times in one day, on top of everything else, when most mages in the kingdom would struggle to summon that level of power even once in their lifetimes! With his other hand, he reached for those metaphorical threads of light, expecting them to be completely beyond his reach – only to find a bunch of them gathered at once within his clumsy, exhausted fingers.

That was the first sign that something was wrong.

Cautiously, he pulled them towards him, and stopped immediately. There was no resistance; the threads were not pulling taut. Horror surged within him _._ He was no longer holding strings of magic in his mind, but strings made of his own flesh, and pulling them would simply unravel his own skin until there was nothing left of him.

In the torrent of wrongness there was one clear thought: _I can do this, but it might kill me._

Panic seized control. He didn't want to die – not here, not like this, not protecting these people he hated, not with the Tower complete and Erza almost within his grasp!

Once he understood the danger, he couldn't have kept that magic in existence even if he had wanted to. The golden seal at his palm vanished back into nothing; he returned to the real world shaking and afraid. He didn't know if he had enough power left to carry it out; if he committed to it, and then it turned out he didn't, the magic would consume his own life to make up the deficit. He couldn't take that risk. And if he couldn't stop their enemy then no one could-

Something silver streaked across his vision. He thought it was magic at first, but it was too solid, too vivid, too full of life to be anything other than a human being – to be anything other than his Erza.

And he didn't understand: she was weak, pushed to the point of exhaustion just like he was, so how was she soaring on steel wings through that roiling mass of tentacles just as nimbly as he had? How was she calling those blades into existence one after another; a spiral of lethal silver around her body decimating its limbs in a matter of seconds? How was she fending off the monster single-handedly while also shouting instructions to Bisca about how to slow down its regeneration and ordering her guild to prepare to rescue the next group?

After everything she had been through – magical exhaustion, physical suffering, this most hopeless fight – why hadn't she given up?

It was dangerous. So dangerous. She was just like him; any moment now she would reach into the void within her mind and find nothing there to grasp, and she would fall forever into that darkness. The risk that he hadn't dared to take once she was taking over and over and over again, not caring that the odds of survival were shrinking every time she called her magic – if it was even magic she was calling on, and not her life itself.

Jellal hardly noticed the rest of the guild rushing to commence the next rescue attempt using the opening she had created. Even when the fighting resumed, their foe having reached an unstoppable level, he was still staring at Erza, trying to understand. She had resumed her control over the creature's extradimensional space, her arm outstretched, stood right in front of it without a trace of fear. No hiding behind a barrier or relying on others to protect her, not now – there was a sword in her left hand and that was all she needed, a skilful blur like a protective aura, parrying the bombardment of attacks.

"Mira!" she shouted over the chaos, as if she had never been hurt; as if she had never known the pain of defeat. "Is that everyone?"

"Almost!" Mira called back. "There's just the Master to go. He insisted that everyone else had to be saved first, and we just didn't have time to pull him out too."

"Okay." A swinging appendage knocked the sword out of Erza's hand; without hesitation, she Requipped another and blocked the next wave of strikes. "If Bisca can take over holding it open again, I'll destroy them all once more."

"No, you're pushing yourself hard enough as it is. Leave it to me."

" _You're_ going to destroy them?"

"Not me personally," Mira smiled. "But we've got our entire guild here. We just need to use it a little more efficiently."

With that, she vanished into the crowd. A few seconds later, Jellal felt the buzz of a telepathic field touching his mind – was she trying to use telepathy to get the guild to coordinate their strikes? The timing needed to shatter all the tentacles in the two-second opening before they could regenerate was almost certainly beyond anything this utter rabble of a guild could accomplish.

Not that it made a difference to him. He pushed the distraction of the telepathic field away and focussed on the world around him; on Erza. She could barely stand. Even as he watched, she seemed to fall to the side, catching herself – shaking herself awake – at the last moment, and trying to focus again on her enemy. Her willpower was immense, and it was sustaining her long after anyone else would have collapsed from exhaustion, but she couldn't create magic from nothing any more than he could. The instant that source of energy inside her dried up, her unrivalled determination would cease to have any meaning; her body would simply shut down. The others were trying to do something to rescue the Master, but they weren't going to be fast enough.

If he, watching, could tell this, then she must have known it too.

And yet she was still fighting.

Jellal thought: _I couldn't do it, so how can she?_

He saw her eyes close. He saw her murmur an apology to no one in particular; to everyone. He saw her beginning to fall.

If she was brave enough to take that risk, so was he. He would not be left behind.

Throwing caution to the wind, he called his magic to him one final time. He was at her side in an instant, the light shining anew from his body vaporizing the tentacles which dared to approach. He wrapped his arm around Erza and pulled her close, using his body to support the weight of her own.

"Not yet," he whispered to her, and it was a command. "Don't fall, Erza. Not yet."

She didn't have the energy to answer him, but there might have been tears in her eyes. He placed his hand over hers; their fingers linked together. Neither of them had any power left but somehow there was light blazing around their hands. Their magic connected; resonated; wrapped them both in a blinding, brilliant aura.

The amulet that had been closing found its doors locked in place once again, vulnerable as the Fairy Tail mages shattered its last line of defence, and then Mira was running through their vision, dragging a little old man along behind her, and someone was yelling, "Erza, do it now!"

Erza exerted her will on their shared magic and summoned forth one of her weapons: a great two-handed sword, its cross-guard the steel wings of angels; its blade the burnished crimson of a frozen tongue of flame. The golden light of magic sparked along its length. She gave a wordless shout and so did he; the blade shot forwards and plunged into the amulet's heart.

There was an immense explosion of power. Had they not been holding on to each other, the force of it would have flung them away. That glorious light, that incredible roar, that terrifying blast – now that the guildhall had born witness to their combined might, it could never claim to be loud and rowdy again.

The explosion died away. The blindness it had inflicted upon those foolish enough to stare into its light lingered a little longer, and then that too faded, taking with it the ringing in their ears and the dryness of the scorched air, and still no one moved. No one dared. For the first time in its history, silence held sway over the crowded guildhall.

Not that there was much left of the place. Almost all the windows had been shattered. Great holes tore up the floor, punching through the floorboards and ripping up the earth and stone beneath. It was a miracle that the roof still stood, given the number of load-bearing pillars which had been toppled. The hall was littered with the wreckage of tables, stools, shredded rugs, smashed ornaments, and more debris too far gone to ever be identified. At the far end of the hall, where a cursed amulet had once hung as a quirky decoration above a bar, nothing remained but a black scorch mark burnt into the wall and a thick layer of ash upon the floor.

It was to this scene of devastation that Jellal now turned. He let go of Erza's hand and stepped away without a word to her. With the eyes of everyone in the guild upon him, he bent down amidst the ash and picked up the remnants of the artefact. The medallion itself had broken into four pieces, each one black, twisted, and utterly devoid of life.

He walked across to where Makarov was standing and dropped the fragments at his feet. The clang of metal rang decisively through the silence.

Only then did Jellal speak. "Maybe next time I tell you something is dangerous, you'll listen to me. I'm going home." And with that, he turned on his heel and strode out of the guildhall, leaving Makarov to give the empty air a faint smile.

The moment he was gone, the paralysis that held sway over the hall evaporated. Members of the guild sprung to life – checking that their friends were safe, patching up each other's injuries, boasting about their exploits and marvelling at their narrow victory. Only Erza remained frozen, right where Jellal had left her. She didn't appear to notice anything that was going on around her until Lucy ran up to her side and gave her shoulder a quick shake.

"Erza, are you alright?" she demanded.

"I… I'm fine," Erza answered, and was surprised to find that she was.

Lucy clapped her encouragingly on the back. "Then this is your chance!"

"…What?"

"Go after Siegrain! Go on!"

"I think he probably wants to be on his own right now…"

"Of course he does! And that's exactly why you need to go after him!"

When Erza just blinked at her, uncomprehending, Lucy sighed. "Honestly, you're both as hopeless as each other!" With that, she grabbed her friend's hand and dragged her towards the guildhall's exit.

They caught up with Jellal halfway down the street. Predictably, he shot the two of them an angry glare, but before he could tell them to leave him alone, Lucy cut in first. "Why don't we all go get some lunch together?" she suggested.

"No. Go away."

"I'm up for lunch," came a bright voice from Jellal's other side. Levy fell into step beside them, smiling sweetly, with her hands clasped behind her back.

"An excellent idea," Natsu seconded heartily, appearing next to her. "We'll charge it to the guild. On expenses."

"There's nothing like good food to restore everyone's energy," Gray agreed. "And since I doubt the guildhall will be serving food again for a while, we just _have_ to go out somewhere in the city."

Jellal stopped in his tracks and glared at all of them. "Has it not occurred to you that maybe the last thing I want to see right now is a bunch of Fairy Tail mages?"

Natsu pulled a face. "Don't tell me you dislike us more than you like free food. What kind of mage turns down something that's free? We're supposed to be living hand-to-mouth here; it's part of the fun of being a guild mage!"

"I'm not a guild mage. That's the whole point."

Watching the exchange, Erza couldn't stop a tentative smile from spreading across her face. "I know a good place," she offered. "There's this fantastic new patisserie that's opened in town-"

"You told me you only went there this morning!" Jellal retorted. "Isn't visiting twice in the space of a couple of hours a little excessive?"

As Erza looked at him in disbelief, Lucy rested her hand on his shoulder. "Ah, Siegrain. It seems you still have a lot to learn about our Erza."

"What's _that_ supposed to mean?"

"I'll explain over cakes," Lucy grinned.

Jellal began to move forward, and Lucy thought that they had actually managed to win him over. Except he wasn't walking at all. He was falling. And the next thing any of them knew, he was lying face-first on the ground at their feet.

For a moment, all they could do was stand and stare. Then Lucy was shouting something and Natsu was looking for help and Levy was crouched down beside him, checking for a pulse; for any signs of life.

"What's going on?" Gray demanded. "What's wrong with him?"

Levy shook her head, her eyes wide. "I don't know, he looked fine! We've got to get him to hospital. _Now!_ "

* * *

 _ **A/N:** Huh. That got a bit out of hand. I was only trying to tick off the "creepy tentacle monster" box on my list of compulsory clichés, and the next thing I knew, things had kind of... escalated. Still, I think it was important for Jellal to see Erza fighting for real. Though he may have the upper hand when it comes to sheer power, he has nothing on her resolve, or the lengths she'll go to in order to protect those she cares about. There's a kind of superiority in how he acts towards her, which comes partly from his power as Wizard Saint and councillor and cult-leading dark mage, but mostly from the fact that he knows the truth while she believes his lies. So the fact that there was a moment when he felt consciously inferior to her, however brief, is crucial. Plus the fact that she was able to convince him to stay and fight in the first place. Hehe. ~CS_


	9. Visiting Hours

**Kidnapping Erza**

By CrimsonStarbird

* * *

 **Chapter Nine: Visiting Hours**

For the first half hour of his stay, Jellal found that he didn't actually mind being in hospital.

His first conscious half hour, that was. He guessed from the fact that he had woken up in a private room in the hospital with his entire body hurting like hell that he had already been there for quite some time – just less than a day, to be precise.

He knew it was the following day because the sun was closer to the eastern horizon than it had been when he entered the guildhall; he knew it hadn't been any longer than one day, because if he had been out longer than that with magic-related injury, he would almost certainly have been hooked up to specialized equipment, and he doubted the nurses would have left him unsupervised. There – a simple bit of deduction, saving him from having to ask any silly clichéd questions.

He was completely alone in the room, and it was wonderful _._ It was so _quiet_. Between the long days spent in the guildhall and the long nights spent in a flat above a main road without any curtains or furniture in the bedroom, he had forgotten just how blissful the ordinary world's quiet ambience could be. It was as if the windows had been enchanted to let in the sweet birdsong and the comforting rustle of the leaves, while blocking out the cacophony of human noise from traffic in the street below. Being several floors up from the ground probably helped, as did the fact that out of the window, he could see nothing but a beautiful sky above and the far-distant horizon. Occasionally he could hear footsteps hurrying along the corridor outside, but no one came in to bother him. It was so peaceful.

Oh, he was well aware that waking up in hospital meant he had collapsed in front of the guild. That he had shown such weakness in front of them stung, but knowledge of the victory he and Erza had won in the fight soothed his irritation somewhat. Even he couldn't quite believe he had been able to summon and use so much power. It was no wonder he had collapsed; in fact, after coming within inches of losing his life to the magic, the real surprise was that the physical consequences hadn't been worse. If his and Erza's magic hadn't resonated so strongly with each other, producing a level of amplification he hadn't thought possible, one or both of them would have died in destroying the amulet. Compared to that, merely passing out was nothing.

Besides, although his muscles burned every time he shifted slightly – an annoying physical side-effect of the extreme overexertion of magic – the pain was somewhat compensated for by the fact that he was lying on a bed. An actual bed. With a mattress and everything. He had forgotten that such comfort even existed. The duvet was so snug and the pillow was so comfy and the room was so calm and he wanted nothing more than to just lie there forever, drifting in and out of sleep, blissfully content in his solitude.

Yes, for the first time in what seemed like forever, Jellal was happy.

For all of about half an hour.

That was when the door burst open and Natsu, Gray, Lucy and Juvia piled into the room. Great. He might as well wave goodbye to his peace and quiet right now. If there was ever a sign that the universe hated him, this was it.

"Hey, Siegrain!" Natsu greeted him, with his usual incessant cheeriness. "We came to visit you!"

"Oh, go away," Jellal grunted, rolling over and placing the pillow firmly over his head.

"Don't be like that! We brought you presents and everything!"

The pillow lifted just enough for Jellal to glare at them through one eye. "Don't expect me to thank you."

"Yeah, we really weren't expecting that, don't worry," Lucy laughed.

He continued to stare at them suspiciously until it became clear that they weren't going leave, at which point he decided to make the most of a bad situation and push himself into a sitting position. Lucy, meanwhile, was unloading gifts from a hamper onto his bedside table. "We brought flowers, to liven up the room," she explained. "Grapes, for the sake of tradition; and cake, because who even likes grapes anyway? There's quite a lot of cake, in fact. We didn't know what you'd like. And we figured that since you couldn't go to the patisserie, we'd bring the patisserie to you."

Jellal looked at the box of assorted cupcakes and said nothing. He didn't care for anything they did, of course, but the mention of food had forcibly reminded him that it been over a day since he had last eaten anything. It took all his self-restraint to stop his stomach from rumbling.

Fortunately, no one appeared to be expecting any kind of gratitude from him. "When are you coming back to the guild, anyway?" Natsu inquired.

"What's it to you?"

Natsu placed his hands on the edge of the bed and leaned forwards eagerly. "Because as soon as you do, we're going to have our battle! Our last competition didn't count because you cheated, and now that you've had the chance to show off in front of the whole guild, it's only fair that I get to do the same, by beating you publicly!"

Jellal gave a sigh of exasperation – however, it was Gray who spoke up first. "Seriously, Natsu? Were you not paying any attention to what he did during that fight in the guildhall? I think it's obvious to everyone just how outclassed you'd be against him."

"Hey!" the Dragon Slayer objected, stamping his foot comically on the ground. "I haven't had the chance to show _my_ true power yet, either!"

"What power is this?" Lucy asked dryly. "The ability to inexplicably cause destruction wherever you go? Or the power that ensures I'm always out of pocket at the end of every month, usually at around rent-paying time?"

"Besides," Gray added, grinning at the outraged look on Natsu's face. "How on earth do you think you're going to beat a Wizard Saint when you can't even beat me?"

"I beat you all the time!"

"No, you don't!"

"I do too!"

"Fine, name one instance."

" _All_ the time, when we fight around the guildhall!"

"Those instances usually involve both of you losing to Erza…" Lucy pointed out, but neither of them were listening. As the boys' lively discussion degenerated into a full-blown squabble, Lucy and Juvia exchanged resigned smiles, and shrugged apologetically to Jellal. He scowled in annoyance and wished they would leave so he could eat the cakes without them noticing.

"How are you feeling?" Juvia asked him kindly.

"Fine." Jellal wasn't really fine, but that was the only answer they were getting.

Lucy remarked, "You do look a lot better than you did when we brought you in. You're actually breathing, for one thing. The doctor told us he wasn't entirely sure how you weren't dead."

"As if I'd die from something as pathetic as exhaustion," he retorted, though he conceded mentally that there was little point in making boasts about his impressive magical strength from a hospital bed. It did occur to him then that he wasn't the only one who had called that final magic, and he added, perhaps a little belatedly, "Is Erza alright?"

"She's fine. A little worn out, of course, but at least she didn't collapse on us, like you did," Lucy informed him. He nodded once and said nothing, but Lucy smiled anyway. "You really do care about her, don't you?"

"I can't have her dying on me too soon, now, can I?"

"That's one way of putting it, I suppose," Lucy sighed. "Seriously, though. The look on your face when that monster caught her…"

Jellal's eyes narrowed. It was difficult to look intimidating when he could barely sit up on his own, but he did his best. Besides, given the tendency of Fairy Tail mages to ignore his efforts, it was probably the thought that counted anyway. "What are you insinuating?"

"Juvia wishes Gray would look like when Juvia is in danger…" the water mage spoke wistfully.

Lucy laughed. "You said it. I mean, that must have been awful for Erza. Being helpless in that thing's grip; having to suffer like that in front of everyone just because her magic was the most effective against it… It's terrible. It would be enough to traumatize anyone. But still, to think that it would provoke such a response from you! You're always so cool and in control, so seeing you completely lose it like that for her sake was… actually kind of amazing."

"Of course." A vision sprung to his mind's eye: Erza, ensnared by those ravenous tentacles; helpless, suffering and vulnerable; crying out against the pain and the horror of her fate; humiliated and tormented until her noble spirit could no longer bear it and she shattered like glass. Under the covers, his fist clenched. "The only person allowed to do that to her is me."

"Whoa, whoa!" Lucy exclaimed. "That's too much information there, my friend."

"…What?" A shiver of panic; he had not intended to speak of his desire to break Erza as his living sacrifice out loud.

"I think we'd all appreciate it if you kept your perverted bondage fantasies in your head, thanks," Lucy told him crisply.

While Jellal blinked at her, utterly bemused, Juvia cast a sideways glance at Gray, blushing scarlet. "Juvia wonders if Gray is also into that kind of thing…"

"Oh, not you as well," groaned Lucy. "Why does it feel like I'm the only normal person here?"

"You joined Fairy Tail," Jellal pointed out. "What were you expecting?"

"…Point taken."

Natsu and Gray stopped bickering for long enough to shoot simultaneous accusing glances at Jellal. "I resent that implication," Gray scowled.

"Oh? So what happened yesterday was perfectly normal, was it?" Jellal retorted.

"Well, as it happens…"

"Yeah, that sort of thing does occur more often than you'd think round here. You'll get used to it," Natsu assured him cheerfully.

"…You really don't think that a dangerous evil artefact showing up in the guild like that is at all suspicious?"

"Nah. These things happen to us all the time. Though, I guess they're not normally so dangerous. Enemies you can't fight directly are the worst. We'd have been in trouble if one of the strongest mages in the guild didn't happen to have Requip as her primary magic."

"She doesn't," Jellal corrected him without thinking.

"Doesn't what?"

"Requip. It's not Erza's primary magic. The natural form her magic takes is telekinesis; she developed that power first. She only learnt Requip later to add more options to her telekinetic blades, so strictly speaking it's her secondary magic. The fact that she is strong enough and fast enough with it to use it as her main offensive power testifies to how exceptional a mage she is."

"Requip isn't her natural magic?" Natsu demanded. "Are you saying that every time I fought her in the past, she hasn't been taking me seriously enough to use her full power?"

Jellal shrugged. "It's just her preferred fighting style, I suppose."

Gray, meanwhile, was staring at Jellal in surprise. "How on earth do you know that? Erza has only ever used her telekinetic skills to complement her swordplay and armours for as long as I've known her. I wasn't sure it was even significant enough to count as secondary magic, let alone primary. So how could you possibly know that's her natural kind?"

"…Ah. I, uh, can just tell," Jellal improvised. "You know, from her magical presence. It's a Wizard Saint thing."

"Really? I've never heard of anyone being able to detect the natural form of someone's magic just by looking, not even a Wizard Saint."

"Well I imagine there's a lot about magic that you don't know."

As the two of them glared at each other, Lucy glanced awkwardly between them, most likely coming to the conclusion that this would be a good time to wrap up visiting hours at the hospital. "Anyway _,_ we should probably get back to the guildhall to help with the clearing up, so I guess we'll leave you to rest, Siegrain."

"Please do. Oh, and one thing before you go – Lucy, I don't suppose you remember the address of the house where you and Natsu were given the amulet, do you?"

It was Natsu who answered. "How do you expect us to remember something insignificant like that?"

"Yes, there was a reason why I wasn't asking you, Natsu."

"Sure," Lucy interrupted, before an argument could begin. "I'll write it down for you, okay?"

Natsu watched with something akin to admiration as she scribbled the address down on the lid of the box of cakes. "How come you can remember those trivial little details?"

"Well," Lucy replied, smiling, "It probably helps that Siegrain isn't the first person who's asked me that today."

"Who was the first?" Jellal asked, and then immediately answered his own question. "It was Erza, wasn't it?"

"That's right. You two really do think alike, don't you?"

He thought about Erza: about fighting alongside her in the guildhall, and then, far more vividly, about the thrill that abusing that trust to kidnap her would bring. "Oh, I wouldn't go that far."

"…If you say so," Lucy said, with a non-committal shrug. With no further explanation, she held the door open as the rest of the party said their farewells and traipsed out, leaving him alone once again.

* * *

There came a knock at the door just as Jellal was making a start on the final cupcake from the selection box. He made the split-second and probably foolish decision to stuff the entire thing into his mouth, before brushing away the crumbs and hastily shoving the empty box under the bed. "Mmm?" he called, not trusting himself to convincingly form words.

The door creaked open and a blue-haired girl stuck her head into the room. "Hey," Levy greeted him, with a friendly smile.

"Mmm." He wanted to tell her to go away, but that was a little difficult at this particular moment in time; he swallowed, coughed, and made do with his usual hostile glare. She didn't appear to pick up on the hint, instead entering the room and closing the door behind her. He supposed it could have been worse. At least she was quieter than Natsu and Gray.

"Is that buttercream icing I can smell?" Levy inquired, casting an inquisitive glance around the room.

"Don't know what you're talking about. Want a grape?"

"No, I'm good, thanks," she laughed. "I thought you might be bored stuck in here, so I brought you a book to borrow. Here."

She handed him an unassuming little book. Bound in modest red leather, it wasn't particularly thick, and its only decoration was the title stamped on the spine in gold foil; the kind of academic text that any non-specialist would pick up and immediately put down again. Jellal carefully turned it over in his hands. " _Essay on Incommensurability in the Disciplines of Magic._ Gee, thanks, Levy."

She laughed again at the dismay in his tone. "I thought you might not have read that one, since it's not one of the core texts that everyone encounters when studying the history of magic. It should definitely be more mainstream, though. It's well-researched, and eloquently argued, and sure, it's too specific to be counted as one of the paradigm-shifting masterpieces at the heart of my school of thought, but it's a peerless refutation of that ridiculous position you hold. Anyone who can read this and remain unconvinced of the merit of its arguments is-"

"Levy."

The spark in her eyes and the liveliness in her voice warned Jellal that if he didn't interrupt her, she'd probably go on like this for the rest of the day. Levy grinned self-consciously, fully aware of why he had stopped her. "…What?"

"Did you deliberately bring me a book you knew I wouldn't like?"

"I thought it might be a good opportunity to introduce you to some of the finer points of my school's viewpoint, since you have literally nothing else to do right now," came her chirpy response. "Besides, you're not the kind of person who'll refuse to read something just because you think you'll disagree with it. I know you're better than that."

He gave a grunt of acknowledgement, focussing on the book in his hands. Though clearly well-used, the volume had been treated with care; the leather was unmarred and supple, and there was hardly any damage to the pages inside. It wasn't old, not by the standards of the ancient treatises on magic he routinely dealt with as overseer of the Council's Archives, but it was the kind of book that the publishers were certain would become a classic in the future, and so they had invested heavily in making it look simple yet sophisticated. "This is a first edition, isn't it?"

Her eyes brightened. "Yes, it is. I'm surprised you noticed."

"How did you get this?"

"I know a guy who knows a guy. He's very good at sourcing original editions."

"Still, it must have cost you a fortune."

"Lucy isn't the only one who has problems paying rent." Levy pulled a face. "I just don't complain about it, because I know that in my case it's entirely my fault. So take good care of it, okay? I'd be very unhappy if you threw it out the window or something because you're frustrated by how it's so irrefutably tearing apart your worldview…"

He glared at her. "You know, now that I think about it, I'm fairly sure this is on the Council's Index of Forbidden Books…"

"Book? What book? I never lent you a book." Levy beamed at him; an utterly irrepressible smile. "You must be delusional from your magical exhaustion. Don't worry, I'll be back to pick it up before you've recovered to a point where your testimony would stand up in court."

 _This girl is devious,_ Jellal thought to himself, and he couldn't help but feel a little impressed.

"Well, I've got to get back to the guild, so I'll leave you in peace," she continued. "Get well soon, alright?"

And then she too was gone.

* * *

Having resigned himself to the fact that he was clearly going to get visitors whether he liked it or not, Jellal decided he probably ought to tidy himself up a bit. If he looked a little less vulnerable, it might be more difficult for them to forget they were supposed to be scared of him.

He was already feeling a lot stronger. It was always the shock that was the worst, and since he had somehow survived that, it was only a matter of time until his body was back to normal. His recovery rate was already abnormally high, thanks to the natural strength of his magic, and though he was loath to admit it, the cakes had probably helped a lot too. He didn't dare try calling his magic yet, but he could sense it slowly waking up in the back of his mind. At least that was something. If he had taken permanent damage in protecting that stupid guild, he would not have been happy. As it was, there was a chance he might be able to put the whole event behind him.

Using the wall for support, he managed to make it to his feet on his third attempt, and shuffled steadily to the bathroom without falling over. He washed his face in the sink and attempted to flatten his hair down a little; the best he could do without a comb after sleeping for so long. By the time Mira arrived, he was looking somewhat presentable, sat up in bed with Levy's book open beside him. On his knee there rested a notepad, into which he was scribbling intently; he didn't look up when Fairy Tail's resident barmaid entered the room.

Curious, Mira watched for a while, and when it became clear he wasn't going to acknowledge her unless she forced him to, she asked, "Is that one of Levy's books?"

"Yes, she lent it to me. It's stupid."

"You seem to be studying it with an awful lot of care for something that's stupid."

"I'm making a list of all the ways in which it's stupid, so that I can prove it to her next time I see her," Jellal retorted. With that, he closed the book and set it on the bedside table, and looked directly at Mira for the first time. "What do you want?"

"I just came to see how you were getting on." Completely at ease, she pulled a chair up to the bed and sat down. Unlike Levy's bright enthusiasm, or the antics of Natsu's troublesome group, Mira's demure manner and serene smile suited the hospital room perfectly. It was difficult to believe that this was the same woman who had led the entire guild in one great coordinated strike at the end of the previous day's battle.

Even worse, it was surprisingly difficult for him to be harsh to someone so calm and friendly. He muttered, "I'm… doing much better. I'll be fine in a day or so."

"I'm glad to hear that. Everyone else in the guild will be as well. We're all very grateful to you."

"So you should be."

"We've been working overtime on repairs to the guildhall in your absence, so it should be back in working order by the time you return."

"What are you talking about?" Jellal stared at her; she blinked innocently back. Fine, he'd spell it out for her. "I'm not going back to the guild."

"Of course you are. It's only been ten days. You've got another twenty still to go."

"…Yesterday, I almost died saving every single person in this whole damn guild! Are you seriously trying to tell me that's not enough to get me out of this stupid agreement?"

"Well, the Master and I were discussing this earlier, and as it happens… no, it's not."

"You can't be serious!"

"As you said, everyone in the guild owes you and Erza their lives, but all we have of yours is one lacrima containing some dodgy surveillance footage. If we gave you that lacrima and ended the agreement, wouldn't it be the same as saying that the lives of everyone in the guild put together are only worth the same as one lousy lacrima?"

"That is the most ridiculous argument I've ever heard! What makes you think your guild is worth _more_ to me than that lacrima? There are moments when I feel like I could murder the entire guild for less than that. Now is definitely one of them."

Mira just gave the same gentle smile. "We owe you for helping us. We all know that. We'll find some other way to repay you, and in the meantime, you can stick around in the guild for a little longer, okay?"

He glared at her. "What the hell do you want from me?"

"I'm not entirely sure yet," she answered, choosing complete honesty over any attempt to make him feel better. "But at least this way, we have another couple of weeks in which to figure it out."

"Enjoy these twenty days while they last," he reminded her icily. "You won't have a guild left by the end of them."

"Oh, we'll make the most of it, don't you worry – just as soon as we've repaired the guildhall. We can't get new windows fitted until early next week, so it's a little draughty, but it's helping to take away the smell of the paint. Meanwhile, we've been fixing the floor and the pillars, and redecorating the interior. It's a good job we have so much construction equipment left over from the last time we had to rebuild the entire guildhall, following the war with Phantom Lord. We've had a lot of practice when it comes to manual labour." Mira gave the ceiling a rueful smile. "Still, to think it took less than ten days from the official opening of the new guildhall to the interior being completely wrecked… that's got to be some kind of record."

"Why are you telling me this? You know I don't care."

"Everyone in the guild wanted an update on how you were doing, so I thought you might want an update on how the rest of us were getting on, since I was here." There was nothing innocent about that smile. She was doing this on purpose.

"Why would you think something like that?" he grumbled.

"Because, like most people in the guild, I don't believe that you're nearly as bad a person as you want us to think you are."

Jellal laughed. He couldn't help it. Not when he was _this_ close to destroying the entire world.

Alright, so maybe he wasn't making quite as much progress in that area as he would have liked. And he might have spent yesterday risking his life to save the very people upon whom he was supposed to be unleashing that devastation. But it was hardly his fault that he had been dragged into the fight. Erza was the one to blame, and she wouldn't be around to interfere for much longer. The moment he got out of hospital, the Tower's terrible march towards activation would resume.

Fortunately, Mira didn't seem to think there was anything unusual about his reaction to her statement. Maybe she got it all the time, in return for saying stupidly sentimental things like that.

"And that reminds me. As of this morning, we have a new member in our guild: Gajeel Redfox, formerly of the Phantom Lord guild."

"Oh, great; another troublemaker. Just what this guild needs."

"You know him?"

"How could I _not_ know him? We – that is, the rest of the Council and I – had to deal with his antics all the time. It wasn't just that he had no respect for authority, but he didn't care much for anything at all. At least your guild has some vague concept of morality. Jose's guild didn't even have that half the time. We try not to close down mage guilds if we can help it – the logic being that a troublesome guild is generally easier to deal with than a hundred or so suddenly unemployed mages who never liked us to begin with – but there comes a point where we have to take a stand before the Council's credibility is damaged. We had a bet on amongst ourselves as to whether it was going to be you or Phantom Lord that we had to close down first."

"And the guild war was the final straw, I take it?"

"More like, it was the excuse we needed to finally take action. If you had lost the war, it would have been your guild that was disbanded, not his."

"I imagine Master Jose wasn't too happy about that."

"He knew full well what the consequences would be if he failed, and yet he instigated the war anyway. He has no one to blame but himself."

"What happened to him, in the end?" Mira inquired. "Did he go to prison?"

"We decided it would reflect badly enough on the Council merely disbanding a Wizard Saint's guild, let alone imprisoning him too. We stripped him of his title, but after that, he was free to go. Though, for him, I imagine that was little consolation." Jellal shrugged; he knew all this because it was vital for his plan that he came across as a competent councillor, but he had no emotional investment in the Council's decisions. "Jose was an arrogant fool, and his punishment reflects that. Makarov was always much craftier… or so I thought, but then he decided to pick a fight with _me._ Twenty days and counting until your guild goes the same way as Jose's."

As per usual, Mira paid no notice to his threat. "At least you're aware of the relationship between us and Gajeel's former guild, then. Joining our guild is his way of turning over a new leaf, and I know that the Master believes it's a great opportunity to set him on the straight and narrow, but… There's a lot of resentment towards him in the guild, so if you could be a little sensitive to that and not deliberately exacerbate things, we'd all appreciate it. Most people have accepted Juvia as one of us after how much she helped us yesterday, but their feelings about Gajeel are on an entirely different level. He was the one who destroyed our guildhall, and then there's what he did to Levy's team… well, you probably know already, don't you?"

"I do."

"Then I'm sure I can trust you to act with maturity and tact around Gajeel. To be honest, I'm hoping that having you around will dissuade him from getting into trouble until he's settled in."

"I doubt it," Jellal said at once. At her questioning look, he growled, "It didn't work on you lot, did it?"

"No, I suppose it didn't," Mira grinned. "Still, I imagine it suits the Council to have Gajeel in our guild. At least this way someone is keeping an eye on him. I heard rumours that a couple of the old Phantom Lord members have joined dark guilds, and I doubt Master Jose is up to anything good; he seemed to take defeat in the war very personally. But maybe Gajeel really will be able to change for the better."

"I'm certainly optimistic about it. Juvia was too nice, but by the sounds of things, you lot _really_ hate Gajeel. That ought to get you off my back for a while."

Her response was utterly sincere. "I don't think that will happen. You're too much fun to tease."

For a moment, he had absolutely nothing to say to that. "Well…" he tried, "We'll see who's laughing in twenty days' time."

"Yes, we shall see." Mira got to her feet and returned the chair to its original position against the wall. "That's all I had to say, anyway. I'll leave you in peace. Do drop by the guildhall when they discharge you."

"I'll do what I like," he rebuffed.

"I thought you'd probably say that."

"Oh- Mira?"

Mira had the door half-open before Jellal called her back. She paused, waiting patiently. He opened his mouth as if to speak, and then closed it again with a small sigh, as if he couldn't decide how to word the impulse that had driven him to act.

"What is it?" she prompted him.

"It's…" Coming to the conclusion that there was no point in beating around the bush, he asked, "Where's Erza?"

"Erza? She came to the guildhall early this morning, but left soon after. To be honest, I just assumed she was coming here. Did she not?"

"I haven't seen her."

"That's odd."

Jellal shrugged, as if it didn't mean anything to him. "Not that it matters. It's not like I can do anything to her in this state, anyway."

With that dismissal, he expected Mira to leave, but she did not. "Are you upset that she didn't come to visit you?"

"Why would I be?" It wasn't an aggressive retort, but a matter-of-fact one; a genuine question that he sought an answer to. "I'm glad she's staying away. I'd much rather everyone in this guild just left me alone."

Then he was silent for a long time, and it was clear that his thoughts weren't in the room at all. "But… even though I wanted them to stay away, they all came anyway. I thought they might, just to spite me, so it wasn't exactly a surprise. So why is Erza the only one who didn't? I'm happy, because she's actually doing what I wanted her to do, but at the same time… something that I completely expected to happen didn't, and it feels a little… I don't know."

With a faint smile, Mira advised him, "I think you just need to rest."

"I think you're probably right."

* * *

Jellal's final visitor came at midnight.

She was a ghost in the night. Her feet made no sound on the slick polished tiles; even the creaking door, worn down through the decades by countless visitors and insufficient care, gave up its habit of a lifetime and surrendered silently at her touch. She left no trace of her passing: neither the staff keeping the A&E department running at full pelt throughout the night, nor the security lacrima installed in the corridors as a matter of course, would record that the councillor had had any further visitors that day.

Yet he had one nonetheless, and even if no one else noticed that she was there, he knew it at once. He came awake the moment she entered the room – a sure sign that his magic was almost back to normal – but he did not move a muscle. He remained exactly where he was, his eyes closed, his breathing locked in the steady rhythm of sleep, and he hoped that she would go away.

He should be so lucky. She was endlessly patient, watching his sleeping form with a half-smile upon her lips. When she spoke, it was with a lilting voice; playful. "How long are you going to ignore me for, Jellal?"

At that, his eyes opened, acknowledging that the game was up, but he still did not move. "What are you doing here, Ultear?"

"Can't I come and visit you when you're in hospital?" she teased. "I heard all about what happened yesterday from Makarov's report to the Council. Sounds to me like you went a little overboard protecting that guild."

"I highly doubt you're here out of concern."

"Concern, yes. Just not for you."

"Now that sounds more like you."

With a sigh, Jellal pushed himself into a sitting position and found her shadowy form with his eyes. The curtains were open; having grown so used to not having any, he had forgotten to pull them closed before he had fallen asleep. The sliver of the moon's prying eye picked out the contents of the room in shades of silver and black, wrapping the cheerful if simple décor in mystery.

Ultear was standing by the window. She must have opened it, for he was certain he had not done so himself, and the gentle summer's breeze played with her raven-black hair like a lover. Amusement glinted in her eyes. She was perfectly at home within the dark: confident; dangerous; so unlike anyone he had come to know at the guild.

"Visiting hours ended some time ago, you know," he reprimanded her.

"I couldn't help it. I got off work so late that I only just made the last train to Magnolia. Things are pretty hectic at the Council right now."

"I imagine they are, without me there to keep an eye on your troublemaking."

"It's got nothing to do with me," she protested, and at his raised eyebrows, she amended, " _This_ time, at least. Turns out they're perfectly capable of getting themselves into trouble without me needing to sabotage anything. They've grown so used to depending on you that they just can't cope on their own. It's a shame those old fools are all so stubborn, or they'd have called you back already."

"That aside, though, this situation is ideal. The more disarray they're in, the easier it will be to sweep back in and convince them to fire Etherion."

"It's _almost_ ideal," she corrected him. "It's missing one vital aspect, Jellal. I can't help but notice that it's been ten days already and you have yet to kidnap Erza."

He let out a low growl. "I'm _working_ on it."

"How hard can it be to kidnap one mage, Jellal?"

"You'd be surprised. Stop pestering me. I'll do it at my own pace."

Ultear let out a deep sigh, clearly displeased by his evasive answers. "Look, Jellal, there's no easy way of putting this, so I'm just going to come out and say it: do you want some help?" At his predictably ferocious snarl, she explained, "Yes, I _know_ you're capable of doing it, but it would be so much easier if we just worked together! If it's concern about Makarov's involvement that's staying your hand, I'm more than happy to call him up to the Council and get him out of your way for a day or two, and leave you free to deal with Erza…"

"Don't interfere. Don't you dare."

"Jellal…"

"I don't need your help. I can do this on my own, and I will."

Impatient shadows danced in her eyes, but she bit back her retort. They were both aware that time was of the essence. Every day that passed gave the Council another chance to stumble upon the Tower of Heaven, or discover that two of their number were traitors, or enforce stricter legislation upon the use of Etherion. On the other hand, this was Jellal's plan, and he wanted to see it through to the end himself. He had never relied on Ultear – accepted her aid when it made things more convenient, certainly, but he had never encountered something that he had been unable to do without her assistance. That wasn't about to change now.

Ultear gave a sigh. She could hardly fault him for being proud, when that pride was something she depended on. "Suit yourself. As long as you keep your head in the game, I'm sure you'll find your opening soon."

"Count on it."

There was a wary silence. Neither of them particularly desired to antagonize the other further by pushing the matter. When Jellal spoke again, it was without a hint of the threat that had been present just a minute ago. "Actually, since you're offering, there is something I'd like your help with. Since I'm not really in a position to go back to Era right now, I want you to check something for me at the Council."

"What might that be?"

"This." He retrieved a folded piece of paper from his bedside table and held it out to her. "It's a sketch I made of the cursed artefact that attacked the guild – best I can do, since Erza and I destroyed the original. I want you to check the records in the Archives for anything matching its description."

"You think it was stolen from the Council?"

"I'm considering the possibility. The Council has the single largest collection of dangerous artefacts on the continent. There's so much trading and infighting amongst dark guilds – not to mention actually _using_ the things they find and make – that they have nothing like the hoard the Council does."

Ultear shook her head. "It's far more likely that it came from a dark guild, though."

"It might have done, or perhaps the perpetrator simply stumbled upon it by chance – but I would be a fool not to pursue the one line of inquiry that is currently open to me. I want to rule it out with proof rather than mere speculation. If it was one of ours, I've written down the information for exactly where it would have been stored. Check the records and see if anything is missing."

"And if something is?"

"Then use my master password to send me the access logs for the Archives. I want to see everyone who has been in and out of there in the last few months."

"I'll look into it, when I get a free moment," she consented. "But, Jellal… don't you think this is all a bit unnecessary? Even if this was a deliberate attack on the guild – and Makarov seemed to think it was just an accident – using your resources as a member of the Council to try and track down who did this to Fairy Tail isn't like you at all."

"I'm not trying to help the guild; don't misunderstand. But at this moment in time, targeting the guild of which I am a reluctant member is no different from targeting me. If it was a deliberate attack and not a freak accident, isn't it only natural that I'd want to find the person responsible? And besides, even if I did decide vengeance wasn't worth pursuing, if the guild does have an enemy then that's a very real threat to me right now. I want to know who they are and what they're after before they get another chance to jeopardize my plan."

"But that's all irrelevant!" Ultear protested. "If you would only kidnap Erza and carry out the plan already, there would be no need to concern yourself with other players in the game – you'd have already won!"

"I can do both at once, can't I?"

"That's just the thing, Jellal. You can't. No, listen to me," she added, as he shot her a warning glance. "I'm not saying you're not capable of it, if you really tried, but… I know what you're like. When you have a goal, it occupies your full attention. Once you decided you were going to infiltrate the Council, you spent years thinking of nothing else; that is the single-minded dedication that allowed you to succeed where every other human being in the world would have failed. You spent so long working your way up from the bottom, slowly earning their trust and showing them how useful you could be, until you got to where you are today – and hardly ever during that period did you return to the Tower of Heaven. It was a minor miracle that those you left in charge there continued to build it in accordance with your schedule."

"Everything worked out exactly as I knew it would. Staying in the Tower for that long would have been too boring for me anyway. I don't see what you're getting at."

She sighed again. Exasperation grappled with caution; she had noticed the snap entering his words. "You're easily distracted, Jellal. When you have an immediate goal, that's all you think about. That's why you need me around. Take yesterday's battle, for example. Once the fight had begun, you couldn't have asked for a better opening in which to kidnap Erza. With her having expended most of her strength, you'd have easily been able to best her in combat, especially if you took her by surprise. And yes, the rest of the guild would have noticed you capturing her, but so what? Without you and Erza there, they wouldn't have stood a chance. Those who somehow did manage to make it back to this world would have been in no state to stop you from using the Tower.

"But that didn't even occur to you, did it? The moment the battle began – the moment your immediate goal stopped being _activate the Tower of Heaven_ and became _defeat the monster_ – all thoughts of kidnapping Erza just went straight out of your mind. You don't like to back down from a challenge, and I appreciate that, you know I do, but there are some things that are more important than destroying cursed artefacts, and when you get so wrapped up in the immediate situation, you lose sight of them."

"If you have a point, then make it."

Ultear took a deep breath. "If you want to track down these imaginary enemies you've convinced yourself Fairy Tail might have, then by all means do it; I'm not going to stop you. But whatever you do, Jellal, you can't let it distract you from your true purpose. What began as an amusing diversion is now becoming a serious problem. I know you don't want me to interfere, but we're running out of time. If it looks like kidnapping you and Erza and dragging you both to the Tower is the only way to make you focus, then that's what I'll do."

Jellal was silent for a long time. The darkness made it impossible to tell what he was thinking, and when he spoke, he did so with a voice that was uncharacteristically neutral. "Ultear, come over here."

She frowned at him but he didn't appear to be joking, and when he repeated the request, she reluctantly left her spot by the window and approached. At his indication, she perched on the edge of the bed and looked at him in askance.

"Ultear," he said, quietly, innocuously. "You know I have a great deal of respect for you, don't you?"

"…Yes?" she hazarded.

"Not just as a politician, or as my co-conspirator. As a mage too. I know all too well how dangerous you are. Not to mention, I'm in hospital for a reason, you know? Until I've fully recovered, I'll only be able to access a fraction of my true power. At this moment in time, I wouldn't stand a chance against you in a fight." And he looked directly at her, and added, "That's the only reason why you're still alive right now."

She cast him a sharp glance, but he continued, just as calmly, "Don't ever try telling me what to do again. If I want to capture Erza tomorrow, then that's what I'll do. If I decide I want to hunt down whoever it was that ensured the cursed artefact ended up in the guildhall first, then I'll do that instead. If you take it upon yourself to interfere then we will become enemies, and I will utterly destroy you. You do not give me orders, Ultear. I will bring about the end of the world, but I will do it as and when I see fit, do you understand?"

He wasn't angry. It was a sincere threat: cold, dispassionate, and delivered not in the heat of the moment but with full awareness of every word that he chose. There was darkness in his eyes, and not a shred of mercy to soften it; shadows and silence and an unspoken promise of suffering. Magic swirled like a winter's wind around him, a manifestation of that frozen hatred lodged deep within his heart, easily hidden but always watching; always waiting. He was completely in control – of himself, of his emotions, of the moment.

She knew what he was capable of, and she knew what lengths he would go to; she knew the true Jellal, rather than the one the Council or the guild saw, and that was what made him terrifying.

She saw all these things, and she smiled. "Now that's the Jellal I know talking. Please, forgive me for doubting you. I will leave everything in your hands."

"Better," he said.

Guessing that she had outstayed her welcome, Ultear rose smoothly to her feet. "I will investigate the Archives tomorrow. In the meantime… look after yourself, alright?"

"And there I thought you said you weren't concerned about me."

"I'm not. But our plan hinges on you being alive, so I'd rather you stayed that way for the time being."

With those sweet words she was gone, and the door closed soundlessly behind her.

As soon as she had left, Jellal rolled over, the dark aura dissipating at once from the room as he snuggled back down under the duvet. Good. He had been worrying recently that he might have been losing his touch, what with none of the Fairy Tail mages ever taking him seriously, but it seemed he could still pull off an effective 'evil villain' when he had to – effective enough to convince Ultear that he could handle this by himself, anyway. Things were bad enough for him already; the last thing he wanted was to have to deal with her as well. With any luck, she'd stop pestering him and let him take care of the kidnapping Erza business in peace.

* * *

 _ **A/N:** Thanks to everyone who reviewed last chapter! It always amazes me how the chapters I get on with the least seem to attract the most attention. Anyway, it's a_ _much calmer chapter this time around, which I needed after last week. I like the dynamic here, where Jellal realizes there's literally no point in trying to be intimidating and standoffish while they're all visiting him in hospital, and just has normal conversations with people instead. And Ultear had to show up at least once properly in this story, because she's great, though the fact that Erza didn't come to visit and she did doesn't bode well. Ultear can draw out Jellal's evil side far more easily than the others can draw out his good side at the moment. On the other hand, I have a feeling that her trusting him to sort this out for himself is going to be a big mistake... hehe... ~CS_


	10. Guild Mage

**Kidnapping Erza**

By CrimsonStarbird

* * *

 **Chapter Ten: Guild Mage**

There was nothing unusual about the house at the end of the street.

When Erza had learnt that the building in question was empty, her mind had conjured up images of a great gothic mansion: ancient and decrepit, drenched in shadows no matter the time of day, and populated by ghosts and bats and spiders the size of dogs. Things were rarely that exciting in the real world, however. It hadn't occurred to the town council's planning department to make one house on the picturesque suburban street twice as large as the others and paint it completely black, just on the off-chance that its owners might die in suspicious circumstances.

No – detached, three storeys high, and painted an inoffensive pale pink, the house was indistinguishable from any of the other perfect family homes in the area. Erza stood in front of the waist-high wall enclosing its little garden and stared up at it in disappointment. If she hadn't already known the house was empty, she might have passed it by without a second thought. It was difficult to tell whether the windows lacked curtains or if they had merely been drawn aside; likewise, the absence of any furniture was tricky to check without trespassing. The garden too had been kept in a presentable state, no doubt by optimistic estate agents who had not yet given up hope of selling the property.

But it _was_ empty – she had visited the estate agent's office that morning to make discreet inquiries, and they had confirmed it. The previous occupants had died suddenly several years ago, and their only son, who lived abroad, wanted nothing to do with the property. He had hoped to sell it on quickly, but it needed too much work doing to it and there had been no takers; despite the estate agent's best efforts, it had lain empty ever since.

And yet this was the house to which Lucy, Natsu and Happy had been called just a few days ago – the house where, in exchange for shifting some old furniture around in the attic, they had been given a cursed amulet that had almost doomed the entire guild.

That the house was empty confirmed one thing: it had been no accident.

But it also gave her no leads at all. Everyone in the local area – or everyone who had wandered by the estate agent's office – knew that the house was empty. It would have been easy for someone to break in, pretend to be the owner for a few hours, and then disappear again as soon as they had left the deadly artefact in Natsu's hands.

There was always the option of breaking in and looking for clues, but given the effort that the perpetrator had put into this deception, she doubted there would be anything to find – and the law wouldn't be on her side if she was caught. She knew Makarov had reported the incident to the Magic Council, and investigating it technically fell under their jurisdiction. Given Fairy Tail's usual relationship with magical law enforcement, however, investing the Council's time and resources in pursuing the perpetrator was out of the question, especially when she was well aware Makarov wouldn't have pushed the matter with them. The distrust was mutual.

Erza looked up at the empty house, and felt the brief ember of hope she had been nurturing ever since the battle flicker and die. If the intimidating visage of a haunted house would have invoked despair in most people, it was the innocent nature of this building, blocking the only way forwards that she could see, which caused her sorrow. This was just an ordinary suburban street, and the house's true owner had nothing to do with the situation. There were no answers to be found here.

She didn't know what it was she was looking for, or why she cared so much about it. Natsu, Lucy, Mira, even the Master – they had all shrugged off what had happened with the cursed amulet; treated it as just another of the dangerous, unpredictable, outrageous and yet commonplace events which shook the guild. It seemed that she alone was prepared to entertain the possibility that it might not have been an accident. And though the suspicious setup seemed to prove that it had been a deliberate attack on Fairy Tail, the perpetrator's attention to detail also meant that this was a dead end, and any chance she may have had of finding the villain responsible was lost.

Still, it shouldn't have bothered her as much as it did. The others were right; this sort of thing happened all the time. No one had been seriously hurt during the incident – in fact, the guild had probably come out of the whole affair stronger and more united than ever before. That was how things went in Fairy Tail.

Nor was Erza the kind of person to let herself be driven by revenge. None of this should have mattered so much to her, but…

The house stared impassively down at her. The trees rustled. A chill wind curled through the street, tugging at her hair and the fabric of her clothes, and she felt, in its touch, those tentacles wrapping once again around her body. A shudder ran through her; she bit down firmly on her lip to stop herself from whimpering.

In the heat of battle, it had been easy to put what happened aside and carry on with the fight. She had thought she was fine, but the simple fact was that the horror of it hadn't hit her until she had left the battlefield behind. Remembering that foul touch was enough to send dizzying waves of nausea flooding her body; she drew her arms close to her chest, trying to stop herself from shaking.

Weak. Powerless. Humiliated. Beaten, disgraced, and broken; tears shed endlessly in the dark. The relentless bite of shackles at her wrists. Lonely. Abandoned. Helpless. Fists beating against the jagged stone until her hands were soaked in her own blood.

She had never wanted to feel like that again.

And she had never wanted to look like that in front of _him._

Not in front of someone who knew the truth.

The armour she usually wore had been damaged by the monster's crushing grasp, and while it was being repaired, she had no choice but to wear casual clothes around the town, where one of her magical armours would have been too intimidating. Without her armour, she felt vulnerable. She couldn't suppress those debilitating visions from the past that the battle had dredged up from her memory.

Was that why she cared so much about finding the person responsible for the attack on her guild? Possibly. Perhaps discovering who was behind it would give her a sense of closure; some illusion of control. If, for Jellal, the triumph of their victory had been enough to overcome the humiliation of collapsing in front of the guild, then for Erza it was the complete opposite – those few seconds of helplessness had affected her so badly that not even the fact that they had saved the guild could stop this all-consuming sense of her own weakness. It had got to her, more so than anything that had happened in the eight years since she had escaped from that hell.

And for it to happen _now,_ of all times…

"Erza?"

The voice had spoken quietly, as tactfully as possible, though even that wasn't enough to stop Erza from jumping. It was far harder than it should have been to suppress the urge to Requip a sword into her hand. "Lucy?"

"Are you alright?" Lucy pressed.

Erza wondered how much of her internal discomposure showed on her face. Again, this weakness; without her armour to protect her body and her heart, she couldn't even face her friends. "Lucy, I…"

Without a word, Lucy stepped up to Erza's side and began scrutinizing the empty house. "I thought I might find you here," she stated, matter-of-factly. "Were you able to find any clues?"

Changing the subject. Moving on. Providing her with something else to focus on, as a means of gathering her thoughts. Erza felt a flash of guilt that she had wished even for a moment for Lucy to leave her alone.

"No, nothing," she answered, and she found with some relief that her voice was steady. Those memories weren't so bad when she wasn't on her own. "I doubt that the man you and Natsu met here was the owner of the house. Everyone knows this building is empty; it would be easy to use the mission as bait to ensure that the artefact got inside the guild. Do you think I'm reading too much into this?"

Lucy frowned. "What you're saying makes sense, Erza, but I just find it hard to believe that anyone would deliberately do that to the guild. We could have been stuck in that amulet until we died, _all_ of us. Is it even possible to hate a group of people so much that you would go to such lengths to indiscriminately murder all of them?"

"I know, but the guild war incident very nearly ended in the same way, remember? If I hadn't been able to block the Jupiter Cannon, or if we hadn't managed to defeat Phantom Lord's top mages and prevent the casting of Abyss Break – we'd all have died; us _and_ half the citizens of Magnolia."

"That's different," Lucy objected.

"How so?"

"Because…" There was a pause as Lucy searched for the words that would justify her instinct. "Because that was a guild war. There was a declaration of war, and attacks from both sides. Phantom Lord wanted to prove their superiority more than they wanted to murder us, and I'm sure they would have stopped Abyss Break if we'd surrendered at the last moment. I'm not saying their conduct was right, obviously, but there was a little more honour to it than this. Unleashing something like that cursed medallion on our guild without warning… well, it's just mindlessly evil, isn't it?"

"Perhaps," Erza said softly. "But the world contains some cruel people."

Lucy watched her friend for a moment, wanting to comment upon the solemn weariness that had entered her voice, but ultimately deciding against it. "You know, you're not the only one who thinks it was a deliberate attack. Siegrain also asked me for this house's address when we went to see him yesterday."

"He did?"

From the look of surprise Lucy shot her, it was clear she had been expecting Erza to be cheered by the news, rather than sounding even more down. "Yeah, he did. Aren't you going to go and visit him in hospital, Erza?"

"I wasn't going to, no."

"Why?"

"Because given how he normally feels about the guild, I figured he'd probably prefer to be left alone, especially when he's vulnerable."

"Well, yeah, but… we all knew that, and we went to visit him anyway. In fact, I think that's precisely why Levy went to see him – just to annoy him. And I think it would be different if it was you. I honestly believe that seeing you would cheer him up a bit."

"Lucy…" Erza heaved a sigh.

"No, look," Lucy interrupted. "I know I was wrong about the date thing. Like I said, I'm sorry that I misunderstood what was going on, and kind of got your hopes up in a way that really ruined things. But… this is different. There's definitely some sort of connection between the two of you – the way you're so in sync; the way you can cover for each other's strengths and weaknesses without ever having fought alongside each other before. No one but you could have got him to stay and fight for us. I mean, did you see the look on his face when the creature caught you? And when you combined your power at the end to destroy it… it was absolutely astounding to watch!"

"But it didn't mean anything to him!" Erza burst out suddenly. "When we fused our magic, you're right, it was… I thought… but I was wrong. For him, it was nothing more than a means of achieving victory. After we won, he didn't say anything – he didn't even look at me. He just walked out of the guildhall. What happened really meant something to me, and it was nothing to him. Nothing at all."

"…Erza, if I'm being perfectly honest with you, I think the main reason why Siegrain left like that was because he wanted a dramatic exit to make a point to the Master."

Erza gave a rueful smile. "I suppose. It's just… every time I think I understand him, he goes and does something like that, and I have no idea what to make of it. I can't untangle all these mixed messages I keep getting from him. And, Lucy, I…" But she tailed off without finishing the sentence.

Lucy shot her friend a sharp glance. "What?"

"It's nothing."

"Erza, if it's something I might be able to help with-"

"It's nothing, Lucy. Really. I wasn't going to say anything."

Relenting, Lucy gave her a smile. "Okay. Do you want to head to the guildhall, maybe?"

"Sure."

They began to walk down the street together. Erza was lost in thought. She hardly noticed Lucy chatting about her plans for the evening, simply murmuring in half-agreement whenever her friend paused for breath. If Lucy noticed this then she gave no sign, allowing Erza to think and being quietly grateful that she seemed to be in control of herself again.

How was Erza supposed to convey to someone else how she was feeling, when she couldn't even make sense of it herself? No matter how hard she tried to avoid thinking about it, and even after Siegrain had granted her the right to move on, she could not hold back the ever-growing certainty that things were finally coming full circle.

The walls she had constructed between her present self and her past had shut out not only the bad memories, but all the good ones as well. When the horrors of her past had resurfaced during that fight, they had brought with them feelings she had all but forgotten: her dear friends and the hope they shared in the cruellest of places; a unity made all the stronger by its struggle against the world that had tried and failed to break them; the comfort they offered each other, sharing the strength to dream; and Jellal _._

For the first time in eight years, she had been able to think about him not as he had been on the day of their parting, but as he had been before: brave and compassionate, and beloved.

Because, when they had fused their power together in order to protect their guild, Siegrain's magic had felt exactly like Jellal's.

That was only to be expected, though, wasn't it? They were identical twins. They must have had a strong affinity for the same kinds of magic. In fact, they could probably wield each other's magic as well as they could their own if either of them ever put their mind to it.

And it wasn't a perfect match anyway. When she had known Jellal, he hadn't been able to use magic. On the day she fled the Tower, he had been in command of a powerful magic that hadn't truly belonged to him; a gift granted by the darkness in exchange for his heart.

But if the boy she knew back then had developed magic of his own, it would certainly have been like the power that lived within Siegrain: fearless… and unexpectedly warm.

He had collapsed after the battle and she had not because he had, without even realizing he was doing it, given her everything. Even now she could sense the last remnants of his magic still merged with her own: unsettlingly alien, as another's magic always was, and yet so painfully familiar.

Lucy was not the only one who had seen the look on his face when the monster had caught her, but unlike her friend, Erza would not have described it as something positive. That he could experience such intense emotion, and that it would be directed towards her – she didn't know what to make of it, and it scared her.

In truth, she hadn't gone to see him in hospital because she didn't know how to act around him. She was scared of being alone with him; of facing up to those questions ever-present in the turmoil of her emotions, and having to decide, one way or the other, how she would answer them.

 _Do I like him only because he reminds me of the boy I used to love?_

 _Have I just fooled myself into thinking that I like him, because it's flattering how he appears to show an interest in me?_

 _And if not_ …

 _If there's a chance that I might truly like him for who he is_ …

 _Is it acceptable for me to like him, after everything that happened with Jellal?_

No one could answer those questions for her. No one could possibly understand her situation. This was a battle she would have to fight alone, and she didn't even know where to start.

* * *

Ultear called just as Jellal was leaving the hospital.

It was around noon on the second day after he had collapsed. The doctor's insistence that he should stay until he was fully recovered had lost out to his boredom, and he had discharged himself the moment his magic was once again coming at his call. As long as he had that, his muscles could be as sore as they liked.

He had no intention of returning immediately to the guild, of course. As far as he was concerned, he had been injured while protecting them, so he could take as much time off to recover as he needed. It was a pleasant late summer's day, warm but with a refreshing breeze; the city was bright and cheerful and Jellal was content to wander through the streets, gently easing the aches out of his limbs and enjoying the feeling of being able to stand again.

In fact, he was in such a good mood that he wasn't even annoyed when he felt the distinctive tug of communication magic at the edge of his senses. His fingers brushed the lacrima in his pocket, opening the link. "What's up, Ultear?"

"Afternoon, Siegrain," came the unusually grave response. "How are you feeling?"

Jellal picked up on her use of that name immediately. When they were alone, she only ever called him by his true name; that she was making a point of addressing his false identity was a warning. She couldn't be certain that no one was listening to their conversation – understandable, as at this time of day she ought to be at work in the heart of the Council Headquarters. Best to be on the safe side.

"I'm much better. I'm just leaving the hospital now. What's going on?"

"I'm at the Archives. Obviously I can't call you from inside-" The Archives, being the storage facility for a vast collection of dangerous artefacts, were protected by layers of complex wards that no simple communication magic would be able to penetrate "-but I had a look, and I think you're right. Our records list an amulet that matches the description you gave me – closed storage, second level, properties unknown. There were tests run on it about three months ago, but when its abilities couldn't be determined, it was sealed away, and no one has checked on it since. I had a quick look and it isn't where it's supposed to be, though there are no records of it having been checked out or transferred to another institution for further study. Either it has been misplaced, or it was stolen."

"Alright," Jellal mused. "I imagine there's no sign of a break-in, or the Chairman would have informed me. What do the access logs say? Anything suspicious?"

"I'm looking now. I'll send you a copy, but nothing is jumping out at me. Either the culprit was someone the Council trusts with free access, or someone managed to get through your system without leaving a trace."

"Impossible."

Access to the Archives was, unsurprisingly, very tightly controlled. Only a handful of people could freely pass through the seal at its entrance: Jellal himself, as overseer of the Archives; the four archivists who worked under him, all of whom he could personally vouch for; the other members of the Magic Council; and the other Wizard Saints – and the security system was designed to log all the relevant details every time any of them went inside.

Researchers were occasionally granted temporary access – university scholars, or mages from legal guilds, or occasionally Rune Knights if they needed something for an investigation – but they were treated on a case-by-case basis, and their applications had to be signed off by either Jellal himself or the Chairman before they were allowed in. Furthermore, the Chairman was more than happy to leave that sort of thing to Jellal, who was _very_ strict about who he allowed in – mostly because he viewed the Archives as his spoils of war and was loath to let other people partake of their secrets, even if it was for some perfectly innocent doctoral research rather than a quest to learn forbidden magic.

Like all security systems, it wasn't perfect, but Jellal had absolute confidence in it. It had already been good when he had taken over about a year ago, and he had spent a lot of time using all his magical knowledge to improve it – partly out of spite towards others, and partly just to test himself. If a dark mage had found a way of circumventing the defences, he was confident that there would have been at least a trace of anomalous activity in the logs. That made Ultear's assessment that there was nothing out of the ordinary to be found there somewhat concerning.

"Maybe your system just isn't as good as you think it is," Ultear suggested cautiously. "I know it's hard for you to accept, but there _are_ people out there who know more about magic than you do."

"Nonsense. What about independent researchers? Could any of them be suspicious?"

"Perhaps, but you signed off on all their applications yourself, so it depends how much you trust your own judgement, really."

Jellal gave a growl. Even though they weren't talking face-to-face, he could picture the grin on her face as she said that. "The Chairman hasn't authorized anything in my absence, then? Accidentally giving access to a master criminal in some foolish attempt to prove that the Council can take care of everything without me is just the kind of stupid thing he'd do."

"Actually, now you come to mention it, there was something…" Her voiced tailed off; he imagined her flicking through screens of projected runes as she scanned the system's records. "Ah, here. The Chairman authorized a transfer request this morning."

"He's letting people take high-security artefacts out of my Archives without consulting me?" Jellal scowled.

"Seems that way."

"Who? What are we sending them? When are they transferring it?"

"Some university professor… and I don't know; the details are classified. I could inquire with the Chairman, but I'd need a better reason than 'Siegrain doesn't think you're capable of doing your job'…"

"He _isn't_ capable," Jellal muttered. "No, don't worry about it. If the request only went through this morning, it can't be connected to the amulet I'm investigating."

"Fair enough. That's the only unusual thing that's been logged since you left. Though, I did notice Makarov visited the Archives a few days ago – you wouldn't know anything about that, would you?"

"No. I didn't even know he'd left Magnolia. He certainly didn't mention anything to me about going to the Archives, but then again, he wouldn't under normal circumstances, so why would he tell me simply because I happened to be around?" Jellal frowned as he walked along the edge of the canal, watching the sunlight dancing atop the still water. "I did think that Makarov might have been behind it at first."

"Makarov?" Ultear echoed, puzzled. "Why would he curse his own guild?"

"To force me to protect it."

"That's quite the risk. From what I heard, it was nothing short of a miracle that the guild survived unscathed."

Jellal nodded slowly as he walked; he had reached the same conclusion. "When that amulet first arrived in the guildhall, I tried to confiscate it. Makarov overruled my decision in order to keep it in the guild, despite knowing full well that it meant trouble. At first, I put it down to spite… but it would be just like him to deliberately invite disaster as a means of forcing me to act in defence of his stupid guild, wouldn't it?

"But… I don't think he knew what it would do when it activated any more than I did. Makarov is irresponsible, but he cares about his guild. He insisted that everyone else had to be rescued before him, even though he would have been a lot more useful in the fight than most of the others. No, I'm certain that if he'd known quite how dangerous the situation was going to be, he'd never have put his guild through it. His actions may have led to the disaster, but they were spontaneous and thoughtless; he wasn't the one who ensured Natsu picked up the artefact in the first place."

Ultear had listened to his arguments with patience, as she always did when he was being serious. "Seems logical," she remarked. "Though it does sound like you've been left with no leads at all. I'll post you the access logs and you can take a look yourself, but I think it would be best if you gave up on this whole endeavour-"

"Hang on."

Jellal hadn't really been listening; in all likelihood, he had switched off the moment she had stopped being helpful and started trying to tell him what to do again. His random stroll around the city had brought him to the parks in the centre – a well-maintained collage of lawns, flowerbeds, fountains, paddling pools, climbing frames, and decorative garden furniture, open for the public to enjoy and always busy during the summer. Usually it was full of families, people walking their dogs, children playing, and even young couples on a pleasant day out.

Today it did indeed contain all these things, but there appeared to be something out of the ordinary going on beneath the large tree in the very centre.

"Siegrain?" Ultear queried.

"I'm going to call you back. This looks interesting." He snapped the mental link before she could protest, and headed towards the source of the disturbance.

There were five people gathered underneath that tree. Levy he recognized at once. Another two he also vaguely remembered from the guild – they were often with Levy, so most likely they were friends or teammates of hers. The fourth Jellal had never interacted with on a personal level, but he had been forced to deal with him many times as a member of the Council: that was Fairy Tail's newest member, the Iron Dragon Slayer Gajeel.

But it was the fifth member of the group who had caught his attention. Jellal had never laid eyes on this man before; he was certain he would have remembered if he had. The stranger was taller than Jellal, and powerfully built; bulging iron muscles crafted an imposing physique. From his casual battle-ready stance to the lightning bolt scar decorating his right cheek, he was clearly no stranger to combat. In fact, it seemed fighting came so naturally to him that he did not feel the need to remove either his spiked headphones or the fur-rimmed coat draped around his shoulders while doing so.

Yet it wasn't the stranger's fearsome appearance that Jellal was drawn to, but his magic. If Jellal was the type who concealed his true power as a matter of principle, then this man was his total opposite – he wasn't merely keeping his magical presence restrained to a normal level, but he was actively projecting it outwards. The air around him shimmered with the weight of such power, and sparks of electricity jumped freely around his body. It screamed of arrogance, yet even Jellal had to concede that such confidence in broadcasting his true power was well-deserved. The raw strength of the stranger's magic sent an electric tingle down his spine. If this man was going to fight, he wanted to watch.

Approaching with his hands in his pockets, Jellal observed the exchange between the group with interest. The stranger had a temper to match the roiling ferocity of his magic. Without warning, a lance of crackling electricity burst from his raised hand and streaked towards Levy – but Gajeel was there just in time, intercepting the strike with his own body before it could hit Levy and her friends.

"Laxus, don't!" Levy shouted to the stranger; a warning, or more likely a desperate plea.

But despite the provocation, Gajeel did not strike back. Interesting, for a man who was known for causing trouble. Jellal noted that he sported several injuries – just how long had this been going on for?

Gajeel's voice was somehow steady, and far more solemn than he had ever been when he had spoken before the Council. "I just wanna work. Leave me alone."

He made to walk off, but the man whom Levy had called Laxus was having none of it. "As if I'd let you just walk away," he said scornfully, as rings of electricity appeared once more around his outstretched arm.

"That's enough, Laxus!" Levy pleaded. "Just let him go!"

Heedless of the danger, she ran forward, trying to seize Laxus's arm before he could unleash his magic again. He shoved her away, sending a wave surging through the aura of magic around him; she was flung backwards and hit the ground hard.

Jellal came to a stop beside her. "You alright, Levy?" he asked, though his eyes did not stray from Laxus for a moment.

"Siegrain!" Levy exclaimed, scrambling to her feet. "I'm so glad you're here! Please, you've got to help!"

Her shout drew Laxus's attention to him for the first time. "You're from the Council…" he observed. Not sure what to make of this new arrival, his eyes narrowed slightly; the arcs of white magic around his arm died away.

Jellal's gaze lingered on Laxus's for a little longer, before finally flicking across to Levy. "What's going on?"

"It's Laxus. He's determined to make Gajeel suffer for what he did to our guildhall, but he's going too far, and if this keeps up, Gajeel's going to really get hurt – please, help me stop them from fighting!"

Jellal glanced from Laxus, who was still watching him warily, to Gajeel, who had frozen in his tracks, and finally back to Levy.

Then he shrugged. "Not my problem," he told her, and walked off.

There was a moment of stunned silence.

"Of course it's your problem!" Levy yelled after him. "It's your guild!"

Jellal ignored her.

" _Your guild?_ " Laxus echoed softly. Then his eyes fell upon the dark blue Fairy Tail mark on the back of Jellal's left hand – and he laughed. It was a harsh sound, incredulous and cruel, and loaded with scorn. "What a joke. Is this how far the guild has fallen? First the old man lets defeated enemies join the guild, and now he's taking in dogs of the Council as well?"

Now Jellal stopped in his tracks. "What did you just call me?"

"You heard me," Laxus smirked. "No wonder this guild's a laughing stock. You really think I'd allow someone like you into my guild? I'll show you exactly what I think of you!"

"Laxus, NO!" Levy shrieked.

She was too late – or rather, Laxus was just too quick. His hand flashed out; raw magic surged like a tempestuous wind before she had even got the first word out. From the bright blue heavens above came a pillar of lightning, crashing down on top of Jellal with an impact that shook the earth. There was a blinding explosion, and a thunderous roar of noise – and then there was nothing but a great scorched crater in the ground where Jellal had been only a moment before.

Silence fell. No one dared to move.

A hint of confusion entered Laxus's dark gaze.

That was when an explosive force struck him from behind. Caught off-guard, Laxus was sent sprawling by the impact. He lay face-first in the grass, stunned, as the incredible magical presence that had appeared behind him reduced back to nothing and the golden glimmer of power faded from Jellal's skin.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Jellal remarked, now standing where Laxus had been just a few seconds ago. "Did you mistake me for one of your pathetic friends, too polite to fight back?"

Laxus snarled something unintelligible, slowly pushing himself back to his feet.

"You seem to be labouring under something of a misconception here, so allow me to spell things out for you," Jellal continued coolly. "Yeah, I might be a member of your stupid guild right now, but I sure as hell don't want to be. I don't consider myself a Fairy Tail mage. And that means I have no qualms whatsoever about fighting someone else with the Fairy Tail mark."

Hostility rippled through the air; the temperature of the summer's afternoon plummeted. Only Levy dared to break the paralysis which gripped the scene, running over to Jellal's side. "Siegrain, don't do this, please," she begged. "Don't provoke him. You're better than this!"

It seemed as though her words had the opposite effect. She tried to grab his arm – to restrain him; to bring him to his senses – but his gaze met hers and she froze with her hand still outstretched.

In the eyes of the man who had almost become her friend she found only darkness. There was no trace there of the good humour he had displayed when they had been arguing over history, nor of the over-the-top grumpiness she was certain he was putting on around the guild, nor of the incandescent determination that had saved Erza and pushed itself to breaking point for the sake of the guild. It was as if the man she had come to know over the past few days had simply vanished. And in his place: hatred. Sheer, unending hatred; the void at the very edge of life.

Then, just as quickly, that gaze returned to his opponent and she was free to move once more, as if a great pressure had been lifted. She took one shaking step away from him, and then another. Jellal would not allow anyone to come between him and his opponent.

He gave Laxus a slight smile; mocking, cruel. The calm neutrality in his voice was far worse than a threat. "You want to fight? I'll fight. Or do you only take on opponents who don't hit back?"

An unfriendly wind sent ripples running through the grass, tugging at the hem of Jellal's coat and playing with the sparks flickering around Laxus's body, and the world waited with bated breath.

At some signal visible only to the two of them, they began to run towards each other. Light radiated out from Jellal's body – at the promise of battle, his magic had come alive, and he could no longer keep it restrained. A deluge of adrenaline swept away the soreness of his muscles.

Laxus seized the opportunity to strike first, a forceful punch with all his momentum behind it, but Jellal was already moving to counter it. In an instant he had assessed the distance between the two of them and adjusted his speed to match. The weight on his feet was perfect, as was his prediction of where the strike would fall; he neither overbalanced nor missed a stride as Laxus's blow sailed harmlessly over his head, and in the next instant he was driving his knee up towards the larger man's midriff.

He underestimated his enemy's speed. One moment Laxus was right in front of him, and the next, he was gone. Instead of a target, Jellal found only danger, as a bolt of lightning plunged down from the cloudless skies towards him.

Of course, Jellal was no stranger to combat either. He knew something was wrong the millisecond after his strike had failed to connect, and his instincts took over. His magic wrested control of his motion from his aching body, triumphing over inertia to launch him forwards; he was out of danger before his conscious mind had even worked out what the danger was. The lightning strike missed him by inches. Its scorching heat, severe enough to shrivel the grass and electrify the air, was lost in the warmth of the magic wrapped around his body.

In the air now, Jellal turned in a slow circle, trying to spot where his opponent had got to – and then a streak of pain burst across his senses as that lightning bolt shot through him. His muscles contracted involuntarily; painfully. The next thing he knew he was falling as his fragile body was pushed back into shock and his magic abruptly cut off-

But compared to what he had gone through in the guildhall, this was nothing. It wasn't fear or pain he felt in that moment, but anger – at himself, for showing such weakness when he knew members of that accursed guild were watching him. A surge of hatred kick-started the power in his heart. By the time he hit the ground he was completely in control of his fall, landing on his feet and skidding back a few metres along the dried earth.

This time, Jellal saw the lightning bolt descending towards him with his own eyes. Rather than running again, he drew upon his power and held his ground, and his nerve was rewarded a split-second later when the lightning shifted forms; it was no longer a streak of energy but a man falling towards him. Arcs of electricity burst into life around Laxus's right arm, focussing all his power down to one deadly strike. If that attack connected, it would be catastrophic.

So Jellal simply would not let it. He sprung backwards in the nick of time, letting Laxus crash to the ground with all the harmlessness of a small meteorite. Both of them ignored the cries of the spectators as the shockwaves washed over the lawn. They had no time to spare for anything that wasn't each other.

Jellal's feet hadn't even touched the ground when a shining magic seal appeared at his palm, from which a shower of golden arrows emerged, racing towards Laxus. They wouldn't miss – _couldn't_ miss – under his perfect aim, except there was no longer anything to hit. Laxus's physical body had vanished, becoming once more a streak of energy that slipped effortlessly in between the glowing missiles.

Cursing, Jellal jumped into the air once more, and the flash of lightning missed him by inches. As soon as he was in the clear, however, Laxus reversed direction, blazing back towards him. The heavenly white light surrounding Jellal's body and the blinding flash of Laxus's lightning streaked across the summer's sky, twin bolts of light entwined with each other, swerving, looping, and rolling too fast for the eye to see in an attempt to gain the upper hand.

 _He's fast,_ Jellal thought. He had long since given up trying to track the other's progress using his eyes, relying entirely on his magic to warn him of the danger. _Maybe even faster than me._ A dark grin stretched across his face. _How long has it been since I encountered a man like this?_

One thing was for sure: he wasn't going to win like this. There was no chance of him attaining the focus needed to weave the pattern of his magic while flying; he was in too much pain for that. Yet if the soaring irritation he could sense in the other's impatient attacks was anything to go by, this mid-air skirmish wasn't suiting his opponent either. As invulnerable as Laxus was while in that energy state, maintaining it was costly, and at this rate, he would run out of power long before Jellal did.

Jellal knew exactly how to deal with this kind of opponent. Savage anticipation sparked within his chest as he altered his flight path and shot towards the ground, with Laxus in hot pursuit. _Slow down,_ he ordered of his magic, and it did so, just a little, with impeccable control. _Focus._ Immediately the heavenly light was gone from his body as all that incredible power condensed down into his right arm, like bands of light contracting around his skin. _Present him with an opening._ There. Just for a moment, as his speed dropped slightly, his defenceless back was a vulnerable target for his opponent; a slip of control that was completely intentional. _And…_

His feet hit the ground. His knees bent a little, supple, strong; overcoming the burning pain to absorb that impressive impact force as if it were nothing. Uncoiling like a spring, he pushed back against the earth, reversing his direction far faster than he could have done with magic alone; twisting to drive that fist which blazed with power straight towards his opponent – who had been about to hit him from behind.

Their fists met mid-strike. For a long moment, nothing happened, as the entire world looked on in shock.

From the point of contact erupted an immense shockwave. The explosion of wind and magic picked up the Fairy Tail mages who had been standing too close and hurled them away. Cracks raced out from beneath the combatants as the earth tore itself apart in its haste to escape from the force. Not even the enormous tree could withstand the pressure and snapped in half. In the wake of the devastation, there was absolute silence.

Before either of the combatants could act, a thunderous roar cut through the air: "LAXUS!" An utterly furious Makarov was storming towards them, Mira hot on his heels.

At the same time, a shocked cry came from the opposite direction: "SIEGRAIN!" That was Erza, arriving from the direction of the town, with Lucy at her side.

"Erza?" Jellal murmured.

Laxus's eyes narrowed. Without a word, he turned on his heel and strode off.

Jellal watched him warily, and only when he was certain that Laxus was gone for good did he let his arm fall back to his side, exhaling slowly. Whatever he might have done next was lost, however, as Erza marched straight through the scene of destruction and slapped him across the cheek.

"What are you playing at?" she demanded. "You've only been out of the hospital for a few minutes, and you're already getting into fights?"

"Erza…" he mumbled, too astonished to say anything more than that one word.

She let out a sigh, and her gaze shifted slightly, perhaps in embarrassment. "Are you hurt?"

"No," he said, automatically.

"I don't believe you. Let me see your arm."

"I said I'm fine," he retorted, using his left arm to pull his other protectively to his chest, like a sulky child.

Erza was not impressed. "Go and sit down," she ordered, pointing towards what remained of the great tree.

"But-"

" _Now._ "

Unhappily, he did so, sitting himself down at the foot of the tree stump and resting his back against its blackened trunk. Erza knelt down beside him. Makarov, Mira and Lucy had joined the group of Levy and her friends, all of whom were mostly unhurt despite being caught in the blast; they were now watching Jellal with evident amusement. He glared at them, and when they refused to leave him alone, as per usual, he sighed and tried to ignore them.

"Let me have a look," Erza instructed, and though he stubbornly refused to look at her, he didn't protest as she took hold of his arm.

Even if he didn't welcome her concern, he understood it. The magic which he had focussed into his arm had shielded him from most of the damage. That power had saturated his bones and reinforced his muscles, holding firm far beyond the point where his ordinary physical body, especially when still recovering from extreme exhaustion, would have given out. Had he used anything less than his full power, all the bones in his arm would have shattered up to his shoulder in the impact. He was _never_ taking a punch like that again.

Now that the battle was over, the magic was receding from his arm, and blood was beginning to flow again. It made its presence known with an uncomfortable prickling, starting in his fingertips and spreading rapidly throughout the entire limb, growing in intensity all the while. It was difficult for him to assess how much damage had been done until feeling returned to it.

He let out an involuntary hiss as Erza's grip tightened around his forearm. "Erza, quit it!"

"I've got to check if it's broken," came her no-nonsense retort.

"It will be in a minute if you keep that up," he growled. He caught sight of Levy grinning at him and a dark shadow entered his eyes. "What are _you_ smiling at?"

"It's actually kind of cute how you can go from utterly terrifying to completely docile in a matter of seconds, just because Erza showed up."

His eyes narrowed alarmingly. "I'll show you terrifying-" Unfortunately, his threat was ruined somewhat as Erza twisted his elbow and he let out a yelp. "Erza, _are you done?_ " he snarled.

She gave a calm nod. "It seems fine to me."

"I told you so."

"But I think you were lucky. You shouldn't get into any more fights until you've completely recovered."

"I'll do what I like," he retorted. "Who was that guy, anyway?"

Erza stared at him, aghast. "You picked a fight with him not even knowing who he was?"

" _He_ was the one who picked a fight with _me_."

After a moment of exasperation, she gave up. "That was Laxus," she informed him, with a sigh. "He's the Master's grandson. If you ask anyone in the guild except Natsu, they'll tell you that Laxus is the strongest full-time member of Fairy Tail."

"What would Natsu say?"

"That it's unfair to just give that title to Laxus when he keeps refusing to fight Natsu in single combat," she smiled. "It's clear to the rest of us what the outcome of that fight would be, of course. But Laxus hardly ever comes back to the guild these days… What happened here? Why were you fighting?"

"I'd like to know that as well," Makarov interjected. There was a severe edge to the old man's tone, but Jellal had a suspicion that it wasn't aimed at him this time. Perhaps this guild wasn't quite the big happy family that everyone liked to make out.

"Ask someone else," Jellal shrugged. "I missed most of it, apart from the fighting."

Levy dutifully took up the story, explaining to Makarov and Mira what had been going on between them and Laxus before Jellal had shown up. Jellal paid no attention to the explanation; he couldn't have cared less about the guild's troubles. Instead, he rested his head against the bark of the tree and stared up into the brilliant azure sky. "Laxus, huh…?" he asked of it. "I didn't know there was anyone like him in Fairy Tail…"

He wasn't expecting a response, but he got one anyway. "He comes and goes," Erza said, as she sat down properly next to him. "He used to get on well with the rest of us, but then his father was excommunicated from the guild, and things between Laxus and his grandfather just went downhill from there. Now, he's… well, you saw."

"I wonder how far I'd have to go before Makarov would excommunicate _me_ from the guild."

Erza laughed. "Don't even think about it. You're not halfway through your time here yet."

"I should be able to get out of this agreement on the grounds that being in your guild is hazardous to my health. This has gone beyond the point of mere sadism on your Guild Master's part – I'm convinced this is the most long-winded plot to assassinate a member of the Magic Council that I've ever seen."

A smile touched her lips once again at his grumbling, but she didn't say anything. In fact, she seemed almost sad. She stared out across the ruined lawn, to where the others were still debating the implications of Laxus's actions, and beyond. Uncertainly, she began, "Siegrain?"

"What?"

"…I'm sorry I didn't come and see you while you were in hospital. I should have done."

He shrugged. "It's not like I cared whether you were there or not. In fact, I'm glad you stayed away. I hope everyone follows your lead next time."

"Figured you'd say that," she replied, with a smile that was even less certain than before.

Out of the corner of his eye, Jellal saw Mira glancing over at the two of them. No doubt she had deliberately positioned herself so that she could hear his and Erza's conversation as well as her Guild Master's discussion. He was coming to understand that she was sneaky like that. _Liar,_ she mouthed to him with a grin, causing him to shoot her his most ferocious glare until she turned around again.

Fortunately, Erza didn't seem to notice. "I went to the house where Natsu and the others picked up the cursed amulet. It's been empty for years. Someone broke in and fabricated that job in order to ensure the artefact got into our guild, but… there's no way of finding out who. It's a dead line of investigation."

"The amulet was stolen from the Council Archives in the last few months, but it seems that whoever did it was good enough to get through security without leaving a trace. There are no clues there either."

"Then I guess our investigation ends here." She nodded to herself, slowly, sadly; the gentle breeze seemed colder than before. After a minute's silence, she ventured once again, "…Siegrain?"

"What _now?_ "

Their eyes met, but it was only for a moment, before she glanced away self-consciously. "If whoever did this comes back, we'll protect the guild again, just like we did this time. I think we can beat anyone if we fight together."

Jellal was quiet for a long moment. "Yeah," he said, and nothing more.

 _Sorry, Erza._

 _The next enemy your guild faces will be me._

 _And when that happens, we won't be fighting on the same side._

* * *

 ** _A/N:_** _Another mostly quiet chapter, or at least it was until Laxus showed up. Trust him to ruin the mood. Ah, I've missed him, though. He'll be back. ~CS_


	11. Challenge Accepted

**Kidnapping Erza**

By CrimsonStarbird

* * *

 **Chapter Eleven: Challenge Accepted**

It was two weeks into Jellal's unwilling stint as a member of Fairy Tail, and while he had become accustomed to many aspects of life here, including having to work as a guild mage and live in a barely furnished flat, the time he spent in the guildhall had yet to become any less annoying. The guild had finished the repair work and their base of operations was back in action, yet he could have sworn it was louder and livelier now than it had been as a building site. To make matters worse, everyone seemed to take the fact that Jellal was around as an indication that he wanted to chat, when they knew full well that he was only there because Makarov insisted upon it as part of their deal.

Today was no different. His plan to sit unnoticed in the corner and study the access records which Ultear had sent him had taken all of about ten seconds to break down. That was how long it took for Natsu to spot him, anyway. The boy cornered him before he had even made it to the empty table, blocking the way with his hands on his hips. "Oi, you."

Jellal sized him up through narrowed eyes. "What?"

"I hear you fought Laxus the other day."

"What of it?"

"How come you'll fight Laxus, but not me?"

"Because," Jellal told him calmly, "Against Laxus, the outcome of the fight wasn't a foregone conclusion."

"But- but-"

Jellal swept past the spluttering boy and had almost made it to his chosen seat when a bright voice spoke up from behind him.

"I just don't think you're provoking him enough, Natsu," Levy informed him cheerfully, resting her hand on the boy's shoulder. "You're being too polite. He only fought Laxus after Laxus _really_ pissed him off. If you focus on annoying him, I'm sure he'll give in eventually."

"Don't you dare," Jellal hissed at them both.

Not that either of them had ever listened to him, and sure enough, a devious glint promptly appeared in Natsu's eye. "I've got a _great_ idea!" he exclaimed, and he dashed off in search of someone or something, leaving Jellal to wonder if more ominous words had ever been spoken.

"I hate this guild," he muttered to himself, sitting down in his little corner, as far away from everyone else as possible, and resting his forehead against the table.

His moody contemplation was broken only a moment later when Levy perched beside him on the table, swinging her legs back and forth contentedly. He glowered at her, and when she refused to leave him alone, he demanded, "Why are you encouraging him? I thought you were more sensible than that."

"I do prefer to stay out of the fighting in the guild, I'll admit. But, the thing is… I did some research on you."

"Oh?"

That single word did not match the shadows that had suddenly jumped to life in Jellal's eyes. His fingers gripped the edge of the table hard enough to splinter the wood. If this girl had stumbled upon something she shouldn't have, then this game was up – he would have to silence her and take out Erza as soon as possible, regardless of whether it was safe to do so.

Reading something dangerous in his expression, Levy waved her arms vigorously in defence. "No, no, nothing illegal! Just newspaper articles from back when you became a Wizard Saint! Information that's available to everyone in the library; honest!"

"I see." His grip relaxed slightly, though the threatening edge did not fully vanish from his countenance. "What did you find out?"

"Abyss Break," she replied, with a satisfied smile.

"…Ah. That."

"Now, I can see why being able to use cross-disciplinary magic like that might push you to hold such a ridiculous opinion on the specialization of magic," she continued brightly; Jellal frowned at her, though he clearly wasn't interested in starting another argument. Not put out in the slightest, she placed both her palms flat against the table and leaned towards him, a little too close – and far too enthusiastic – for comfort. "I want to see it."

"No."

Levy blinked, taken aback by the sudden rejection. "No?"

"That's what I said."

"Why won't you show me your magic?"

"Because I won't."

"Huh. I thought you'd have jumped at the chance to show off how powerful you are."

"My magic isn't something to be flashed around for other people's entertainment," Jellal retorted. "I thought you of all people would have respected that."

"On one hand, I really do. On the other hand… I really _really_ want to see it. From an academic point of view, obviously. It should be against the laws of magic for one person to be able to do something like that on their own, so I'd love the chance to actually see it in action."

"Well, tough. It's not magic I'd ever use without good reason." She pulled a face, but elected to stay on his good side rather than pushing the matter and annoying him further. He added, "And stop encouraging Natsu. Even if I did fight him, I wouldn't use Abyss Break, so you won't gain anything from it other than my unending animosity."

Levy grinned. "You mean I don't have that already? Clearly I'm not trying hard enough. Why wouldn't you use it against Natsu, though?"

"Aside from the obvious fact that I wouldn't need it to win, you mean?" He looked her dead in the eye and said, without a trace of humour in his voice, "Because it would kill him. And as a member of the Magic Council, I can hardly go around murdering people, can I?"

Captured by his intensity, Levy found she had nothing to say to that.

Just as Jellal thought he had finally managed to win back his peace and quiet, however, another group showed up to ruin the mood. "Who's plotting to murder who, now?" Mira inquired cheerfully, as she, Erza, Lucy and Juvia joined the conversation.

"No one's murdering anyone, regrettably," Jellal grumbled, the moment broken. "Stop half-listening to my conversations and jumping to conclusions." After a quick glance around the group confirmed that they were all here to stay – seriously, had everyone in this guild taken up annoying him as a full-time job? – he sighed, and got to his feet. "Well, I can't sit around here doing nothing all day. Erza, want to go and do a job?"

It was a long shot, and after two weeks without a single good opportunity to be alone with her for kidnapping purposes, he wasn't surprised when she offered him an apologetic smile. "Sorry, I can't. I'm expecting a delivery, so I've got to stay in the guildhall until it arrives."

"No need to worry about that," Lucy spoke up unexpectedly. "We'd be able to pick it up for you and hold onto it until you got back, if you wanted to go."

For a moment, Jellal could do nothing but stare at her in surprise. She and her little friends had spent the past two weeks doing everything in their power to prevent him and Erza from being alone together – so where on earth had that come from? Was his luck finally beginning to change?

Nor was he the only one startled by Lucy's offer. "Hey, Lucy," Levy hissed, in a mostly failed attempt at being surreptitious. "What happened to making sure Erza never had to be alone with him?"

"Oh, you know." A non-committal shrug.

"Thanks for the offer, Lucy, but I'll stay in and collect it myself," Erza interjected. "It's my repaired armour, so I want to get it back as soon as possible."

His irritation returning now that his brief spark of hope had been quashed once again, Jellal inquired impatiently, "You sent your armour off to be repaired? Can't you just do it with magic?"

"Technically, I can; my magic will slowly reconstruct any damaged armour in my Requip dimension. Alternatively, I can remove it from that space entirely and send it to a blacksmith to be repaired by hand. It's more expensive, but much faster, and it stops the continual drain on my magic that restoring it from my Requip space would cause – which wasn't something I wanted while recovering from that battle. The downside is that I can't access it at all until I get it back…"

"I see."

"Anyway, Siegrain," Mira butted in, with a not-at-all innocent smile. "You were going out to work, right? Don't let us detain you."

He glared at her. "Well, there's not much point now, is there?" he muttered, sitting back down. Erza briefly met his gaze before turning her uncertain glance towards the floor instead. He didn't care much for her confusion; as long as she wasn't starting to suspect that he was planning on isolating and kidnapping her, whatever misunderstandings might have been going through her head didn't concern him. When the others sat down around him, she did too, taking the seat beside him that he had a hunch Lucy had left empty on purpose.

To everyone's surprise, it was Juvia who spoke first. "Did Juvia overhear you talking about Abyss Break earlier?"

"That's right; do you know it?" Levy asked, but it was Erza who answered.

"Oh, of course. That was the magic that Phantom Lord was trying to use during the guild war, wasn't it?"

Juvia responded with a timid nod. No doubt noticing her unhappiness, Levy jumped in to steer the conversation away from the sins of Juvia's former guild. "Apparently, Siegrain can also use that magic." She gestured towards Jellal, who seemed even more uncomfortable with the direction of the conversation than Juvia. "And he can do it on his own."

"Juvia had heard that rumour," the water mage nodded. "That was what sparked Juvia's old Guild Master's obsession with it. He didn't like that the newest Wizard Saint could do something so flashy, so he tried to learn it himself. When he couldn't work out how, he sought another way of harnessing that power."

"Jose and I didn't get on," Jellal agreed. "He couldn't work out how I was able to use an impossible magic, and he never quite got over it."

"Knowing you," Levy pointed out, "That's probably because you took every opportunity to smugly remind him of that fact."

"How rude. I'm a professional councillor, you know. It was every other opportunity at most."

"What's so difficult about it?" Lucy asked.

"It requires the use of four different disciplines of magic at once; the four core elements. Since most mages only ever master one type of magic, it's supposedly impossible for anyone to be able to do it alone."

Juvia added, "Juvia's old Master thought that was the case. That's why he took a special interest in Juvia and her companions, all of whom could use elemental magic – the water, fire, earth and air components which are used together to call Abyss Break. The plan at first was to train so that it could be cast by all four of them working in unison, each contributing their own element to the magic. Juvia and her friends never had any luck with that though."

Jellal nodded slowly as she spoke, considering the situation. The conversation was getting a little more technical than he was comfortable with. They all seemed to be waiting for him to respond, deferring to him as their resident expert, which made a nice change, but… If the subject had been brought up by colleagues from the Council, he would have been instantly suspicious; the odds of it being some sort of ploy to try and discover the limitations of his most feared magic would have been too high for him to ignore. He'd have ended the conversation at once – _had_ ended it, on several occasions before.

With this guild, however, he was more inclined to put it down to innocent curiosity than some sort of political plot. Makarov's scheming aside, that didn't seem their style.

Did that mean he trusted the guild more than he did the Council? The thought made him uneasy.

 _It's less that I trust the guild's character, and more that I know I can rely on their blundering ignorance_ , he concluded, and that made him feel a little better.

So he backed up Juvia's point, as casually as before, "That's not surprising. A Unison Raid between two mages is rare enough; ones with three participants are almost unheard of. A four-person Unison Raid is impossible, simply put."

"That's what the giant robot was for, right?" Mira interjected.

"Yes," Juvia nodded. "When it became clear that Abyss Break was never going to be possible in that way, Juvia's old Master refused to give up, and spent a lot of time searching in the Council's Archives for a way to make it work. Eventually he realized that he could stabilize the magic with an external structure. So he made a few adjustments to the guildhall, which became the giant robot you saw, which drew elemental power from Juvia and her companions in order to use Abyss Break. They never actually tested it, though, so Juvia does not know if it would have worked if you hadn't stopped it…"

Jellal shrugged. "I don't see why it wouldn't have done. It seems like a perfectly good means of stabilizing it." Then he smirked, and added, "Other than the fact that it's incredibly slow, presents a massive and easily destroyed target, and would fall apart instantly if even one of you died…"

"I take it from that comment that you don't have a giant robot stashed away somewhere," Levy assessed, disappointment lacing her voice.

"I have no need for anything like that. I'm perfectly capable of doing the entire thing on my own."

"How? I've never seen you use elemental magic before. I don't believe you can."

"Of course I can," Jellal assured her coolly. "I don't play by the rules of ordinary mages, and I certainly don't want to be told what is and isn't possible by someone who isn't even a Wizard Saint. I can master as many different types of magic as I like. I'm just that good."

As he hoped, they seemed suitably impressed by his casual remarks. After two long weeks, he had finally got them to show him some respect.

All except Erza, that was, who just gave a faint smile. "Well, that's just a lie, isn't it?"

"Huh?" Startled, Jellal turned to her sharply; defensively. "Why would you say that?"

"He definitely can use Abyss Break, Erza," Levy interjected, mediating the discussion. "He did it in front of the Council a couple of years ago while on a mission for them; that's when they first acknowledged him as a Wizard Saint. It's well-documented in newspapers from the time. There are photographs and everything."

"Oh, no, I believe that," Erza assured them. "I'm just fairly sure he's lying about being able to use elemental magic… or at least being able to use it at all competently."

There was a moment's silence – or, as silent as was possible inside the guildhall – as Jellal and Erza stared at each other.

"…Alright, fine," Jellal scowled, backing down. "It's not possible for one person to meet the activation conditions for Abyss Break on their own. I just sort of… cheat my way around them. I don't need to be able to use elemental magic competently; that's precisely where everyone else who tries to learn it goes wrong. I only need to be able to hold the four elemental forms together for long enough to push it over the activation threshold, and then I can execute it fully with normal magic."

"Why?" Lucy asked suddenly.

"Why does it work? I could explain it to you, but you wouldn't understand-"

"No, I meant – why do you bother?" At Jellal's surprised look, she shrugged defensively. "Well, it's obvious that you know a lot about magic, but what's the point in going to such lengths? It sounds like an awful lot of effort, especially when I've already seen you call down a meteor to take out an ancient wyvern and half a village in one hit. Do you really need some overly complicated magic like this as well?"

"…Technically, no," Jellal admitted. "I mean, there are times when it isn't appropriate to hit things with a meteor – if I'm fighting above my house, for instance, rather than some random village I don't care about – so having more than one ultimate magic held in reserve is never a bad idea. But no, Abyss Break is very difficult to use. Getting it to the activation point requires intense focus, so it's actually fairly useless in a fight, where any decent opponent wouldn't give me that luxury."

Levy interrupted, grinning, "That's the real reason why you wouldn't use it if you fought Natsu, isn't it? Not because it's too dangerous, but because you wouldn't actually be able to."

He scowled again. "It probably _would_ kill him – but if he's half as good as he thinks he is, he wouldn't give me the opening I'd need to stabilize it. I'd only be able to do it by beating him down or otherwise immobilizing him first, and once I'd done that, ending it with Abyss Break would be completely unnecessary, and simply cruel. It's by no means a useless magic – rather, with such destructive potential, it is possibly the most dangerous form of magic I have ever seen – but there aren't many situations in which it provides the best course of action. Fighting Natsu certainly wouldn't be one of them."

"So, in short," Erza summarized, "You learned Abyss Break just to show off?"

"…Pretty much. It's a well-known destructive magic that many scholars have investigated, yet I alone have figured out how to use. Jose isn't the only one jealous of that. Besides, saving a team of councillors and Rune Knights from a rampaging monster earns you their eternal gratitude. Saving them with impossible ancient magic that not even the most knowledgeable of them understands earns you the title of Wizard Saint."

"I can't believe you'd learn ancient magic just for that," Levy reflected. "That's shallow, unscrupulous, disrespectful, and incredibly manipulative."

"Thank you very much."

"…Yes, you would take that as a compliment, wouldn't you?" she sighed.

Fortunately, now that they had the answers they were looking for, and had had their fun poking holes in his cover story, the others seemed happy to let the conversation move along and stop bothering him. "So, Juvia," Mira began curiously. "What sort of training did Jose make you do in order to try and get a four-way Unison Raid working?"

Happy that she could talk about this so casually with her former enemies – a true sign that all was forgiven – Juvia was eager to explain. "First, he sent Juvia and her friends to a monastery for three months…"

Jellal didn't really care for hearing the story of someone else's exploits. As he half-listened, at least making an effort to seem interested, his thoughts kept drifting back to Erza.

He often thought about Erza, but not like this. She had known when he lied earlier. The others had accepted his bluff about being able to fully use multiple types of magic, yet she called him out on it straight away.

It was probably a coincidence. She knew more about magic than the others; in all likelihood, she had had good reason to believe that his claim wasn't true. Or perhaps she had just challenged his boast in the way that people in this guild often did, fully prepared to be proven wrong if necessary.

They were surely all more plausible explanations than the thought that she had somehow been able to notice he wasn't telling the truth.

That would be… problematic.

He wasn't worried that she would see through his cover – she would never work out that Siegrain and Jellal were the same person unless he told her himself – but she wouldn't need the entire truth to start making things difficult. What if she suspected he was after her? She had definitely been avoiding him recently. First there was the hospital thing, and then she had started finding excuses, like waiting for her armour, every time he asked if she wanted to go on a job with him. There was an uncertainty around her when she looked at him that had not been present before they had fought together in the guildhall.

Yet it wasn't the same uncertainty that had seized control of her when he had first appeared in the guild, he was sure of it. The shadow of the Tower of Heaven did not hold as much sway over her as it had back then; fear no longer kept her frozen in the past. In exchange for her trust he had been forced to give up his power over her, and it bothered him, perhaps even frightened him.

Yes, the more she trusted him, the more exhilarating it would be when he finally got to break that trust; and the stronger she was, the more satisfying his ultimate victory over her would be – but that victory was seeming less and less certain with every day he spent in her company. He knew she was incredible – no, he _relied_ on it; who else would be worthy of bearing the lives of everyone in this world upon their shoulders? But it was exactly that part of her, no longer enchained, that could destroy him if he wasn't careful.

When had he _stopped_ being careful? When had he let her get close, in a way that she could come to know him; to, perhaps, suspect him?

He wanted to be around her; to fight alongside her; to revel in her power and to win victory together. He wanted to watch with pride as she overcame all the challenges life threw at her. Of course he did: she was his sacrifice.

But, more importantly, he wanted to be the single challenge that she could not overcome. Her divinity had meaning only because he was going to destroy it. That had to be his priority; he could not jeopardize it for anything.

He had to start being more cautious around Erza. It was fine for him to appear relaxed in conversation with the others, because that was always good at lowering her guard, but he could not let his own guard down for a moment.

Which probably meant he should do something about the fact that she was currently asleep with her head on his lap.

It took a moment or two for that to sink in.

Jellal was pretty certain that the last time he had checked, she had been talking animatedly with her friends about training while he was lost in thought. Now it looked very much like she had just fallen sideways, and was peacefully asleep on top of him.

He stared at her.

Then he stared at her some more.

 _Well,_ he thought. _A lot of strange things have happened since I joined Fairy Tail, but I think this tops them all._

And then, somewhat belatedly, he felt what he should have felt as soon as he noticed her: alarm.

Something was very wrong here. He glanced up from Erza's sleeping form to see Levy, who had been sat on the table, slumping sideways as if consciousness had suddenly been stolen from her; she landed softly on top of Mira, who had fallen face-first onto the table. Nor was this an isolated incident. All across the hall, members of Fairy Tail were collapsing.

"Okay…?" Jellal wondered aloud, torn between bemusement and fear.

Then it hit him too. He barely registered the feeling of light-headedness – certainly he made no connection between that and the rest of the guild spontaneously falling asleep – and the magic would have taken him in that instant if his own power hadn't picked that moment to fight back. It recognized the touch of unfamiliar magic upon his body even if he did not, and it simply would not allow it to exist.

As the heaviness of sleep magic pressed down upon his mind, his own power surged within him, fighting it off with everything it had. Fire ignited in his veins, overloading his body with adrenaline. Bursts of pain exploded through him, and he clung to that sensation; used it to fight off the waves of nothingness threatening to overwhelm him. His heart was racing at the same time as his body was trying to shut down, and he had the distinct feeling that if neither side won out soon, he was going to be torn apart.

Then, just as quickly as it had started, the sensation vanished. The foreign magic withdrew completely from his body. Jellal was left breathing heavily; scrambling to get his thoughts in order; trying to work out if any time had passed while he was under the influence of that magic; wondering if the guild was under attack; thinking how he couldn't possibly get up and fight because that would mean having to move Erza-

The sound of a single footstep rang out through the silence that held sway over the guild. Someone was here: a dark silhouette in the doorway's white light. Another step, and then another. A steady approach towards a defenceless guild. Celestial light glimmered around Jellal's raised hand, ready to fight.

The stranger entered the guildhall, and for the first time, Jellal could look at him properly. Or, he could try to – the guild's assailant had gone to a lot of trouble to conceal his identity. His body was swathed in dark cloth, making it difficult to determine his build, while white bandages covered his exposed lower arms and feet so that not an inch of his skin could be seen. His face was similarly hidden; only his eyes, sweeping across the room as if to check that all his opponents had been incapacitated, were visible. Several staves were strapped to the man's back, and there was one gripped firmly in his hand, still glimmering with traces of the sinister magic that had paralyzed the guild.

Just as Jellal was weighing up the merits of a pre-emptive strike against the chance to find out the newcomer's intentions, the stranger's gaze fell upon him, and he froze with one foot still in the air.

He stared at Jellal. Jellal stared back. A long moment passed in silence.

Then, without a word of explanation, the stranger turned on his heel and walked back out of the guildhall.

His footsteps faded into nothing. The door swung back and forth behind him, and then that too came to rest in the stillness.

"Well," said Jellal, to no one in particular. " _That_ was surreal."

All around the room, the mages of Fairy Tail were beginning to wake up. Levy yawned and stretched like a cat on the table; Mira rubbed her eyes with a rueful smile. Neither of them did what Jellal was expecting – namely, jump to their feet and prepare to unleash their magic upon whoever it was that had enchanted them. In fact, they seemed completely at ease.

A confused purring sound drew his attention back to the Erza lying in his lap. Grimacing, he gave her shoulder a quick shake. "Erza. Hey, Erza, wake up."

She opened her eyes and gazed up at him blearily. "Jellal…?" she murmured. Then she seemed to come awake all at once, sitting bolt upright and staring at him in panic. "Siegrain! I'm so sorry! I didn't-"

He just gave his head a quick shake: he didn't care, not right now. "What the hell is going on here?"

Lucy met his gaze and shrugged, deflecting his question towards Mira. "Was it that Mystogan guy again?"

"Seems that way," Mira replied, trying to brush her hair back into place, as if that was a perfectly normal thing to prioritize when the guild was under attack.

"Huh. He has major issues with other people, doesn't he?"

"Apparently so."

"Why are you all so calm?" Jellal shouted, causing them to look at him in surprise.

"Don't you want us to be calm?" Mira replied nonchalantly. "You're the one always complaining about how rowdy it is in here; I thought you'd have been happy!"

"Well, yeah, but…" He gave a fierce shake of his head. "But a guy just came in here and put the entire guild to sleep! How are you acting like this is normal?"

"Because it _is_ normal," she assured him. "That was Mystogan. He's a member of our guild, and he always does that, whenever he comes to pick up a job."

"I don't think there is any way you can possibly describe that as normal…"

"Welcome to Fairy Tail," Levy grinned. "Haven't you learnt by now that things are a little different around here?"

"That's one word for it."

"That's a point, though, Siegrain. Are you saying that Mystogan's magic didn't affect you?"

"Hmm." After how well their earlier discussion had gone, he decided honesty was the best policy. "It was a close-run thing. We were pretty evenly matched in power; I won only because he was spreading his magic out to affect the entire guild. If he had simply focussed it on me, I think he would have been the victor." His gaze danced over the rest of the guildhall, which was beginning to return to life, and then settled pointedly on Erza. "I am surprised none of you could resist it as well, though."

Erza gave him a small smile. "To be honest, we're all just used to it. He obviously has some issue with interacting with other people, so it's easier for everyone involved if we don't fight it, and let him do as he pleases. The Master trusts him, so that's good enough for me."

"Did you see his face?" Levy demanded enthusiastically.

"No, he was all wrapped up."

"Shame. Some of us have a bet on as to what he looks like. Quite a lot of people think he must be severely disfigured, which is why he hates people looking at him… I personally think he's a wanted criminal." She seemed far too excited by that prospect. "What did he do? Did he pick up a job?"

"No. He walked into the guildhall, stared at me for a bit, and then walked out again."

"…Strange."

"You're telling me?"

"Did you scare him off, or something?"

"Not on purpose. I'd have fought if he tried to use magic on me again, though. Perhaps he realized that would be a very foolish thing to do."

"Maybe he recognized you from the Magic Council, and ran away because he really is a fugitive!"

"Maybe so." A sly glint entered Jellal's eye, and he added, "Of course, if Fairy Tail _is_ harbouring fugitives…"

"Nope. Definitely not. Everything's perfectly respectable here. He's just really scared of people, that's all."

"Hmm…"

Clearly, this really wasn't out of the ordinary for the guild. All around the hall, everything was back to normal already, as if no one cared that they had been attacked by one of their comrades. Trusting someone whose face they had never even seen… it was one of the most ridiculous things Jellal had ever heard, but then again, he didn't trust people as a matter of principle. The very idea of putting his faith in someone else was alien to him.

And that, he supposed, was why he was the one sitting on a weapon of mass destruction and they would still be having their pointless little chats in their guildhall when the whole world burned.

Gray and Happy wandered over and joined their group. The conversation moved on to other things, but it was no less rowdy; Jellal wondered wistfully if he'd be able to convince that Mystogan guy to teach him sleep magic. That would make his compulsory appearances in the guildhall a little more bearable. Failing that, if he went and did a quick mission on his own now, there was a chance that Makarov wouldn't notice if he left straight after and went to the library to get on with his research.

Before he could make his move, however, a light touch at his shoulder caught his attention: Erza. "What is it?" he queried.

"I…" She could not quite meet his gaze. "I really am sorry about earlier. When I… you know… called you…"

Was it really bothering her that much? It wasn't just that he didn't care, but he was pretty certain that even if his evil twin brother was real, he _still_ wouldn't have cared – not when it had clearly been an honest mistake. If it had been intentional it would be another matter entirely, but for her to get so hung up on what was clearly an accident… he wondered why she felt so strongly about this, and then he wondered why he cared.

"Erza. I don't care. You were obviously half-asleep. Do you really think I'm the sort of person who'd get upset over an accident like that?"

"I don't know," she confessed. "At times, it feels like I've known you my entire life, and then at others, it's as though I don't know you at all."

He blinked at her. What on earth was he supposed to say to something like that?

The loud thwack of wood striking wood saved him from having to think of a response. Silence spread so rapidly through the hall that Jellal thought the mysterious sleep-mage must have returned to the guild, but when no magic brushed against his senses to make up for the absence of sound, he was forced to scan the room to find a physical explanation for the abnormality.

Makarov was stood atop the bar – a tactical move which made him almost normal height – and he was repeatedly banging his staff against its surface. Within seconds, the attention of the entire guild was fixed on him.

"I have an announcement to make," the old Guild Master began, and for some reason, those words inspired in Jellal an inexplicable feeling of dread. "For no particular reason whatsoever, I have decided that Fairy Tail's annual twenty-four-hour endurance road race, which normally takes place every year at the end of September, will instead be held tomorrow. So be sure to get plenty of rest overnight, and I expect to see you all assembled in front of the guildhall by 11:30am tomorrow, for a prompt midday start. Entry is, as always, compulsory. That is all."

And with that, he sat back down atop the bar. The silence persisted for several seconds before the guild's usual cacophony of noise returned, louder and more excitable than before.

A somewhat bemused Lucy turned to the friends who had been in the guild for far longer than her. "Would someone care to explain to me what this is about?"

"Juvia would like to know this too," Juvia added.

"It's Fairy Tail's road race," Gray answered. "We hold one every year. It's a test of speed, stamina and strategy. It can be a lot of fun – not to mention, it's a great way to show off your skill to the Master and prove that you deserve to be S-Class."

"A twenty-four-hour race?" The gloom in Lucy's voice was the complete opposite of Gray's enthusiasm. "I'm really quite happy not being S-Class, so can I pass?"

"What sort of attitude is that, Lucy?" Gray retorted.

"A normal one!"

Levy interjected, "Unfortunately, Lucy, the Master always makes the race compulsory for the whole guild. He knows that otherwise he'd just get the nutcases like Natsu and Gray competing every year, and it wouldn't be quite the spectacle that the townsfolk have come to expect."

"We're going to have an audience?" Lucy whispered bleakly.

Mira glanced at Jellal. "You seem remarkably unperturbed by this. I thought you'd have been the most vocal opponent of the Master's decision."

"He can say what he likes; I'm not doing it," came the haughty response. "I'm a member of the Magic Council. I'm not taking part in your guild's stupid race."

" _All_ the rules of the guild, remember?"

He gave an unhappy scowl. "Still, only entry is compulsory, right? He can make me show up, but he can't stop me from walking the whole thing, if I felt that way inclined."

"I wouldn't advise that." Somehow, Mira's sweet smile was more terrifying than any kind of threat. "You see, the usual rule is that whoever comes last has to face the Master's… special punishment."

"And what, exactly, does that entail?"

"It's a surprise," she grinned. "But in case you're thinking it's worth the risk, I'll tell you now that it would be far more damaging for your political career than if the press merely got their hands on that lacrima…"

"He's doing this on purpose, isn't he?" Jellal growled. "This is just to mess with me."

Mira beamed at him. "Almost certainly."

"So, what do you think, Siegrain?" Natsu's usual lively voice interrupted their conversation. He appeared as if from nowhere with an infuriatingly smug smile on his face. "Do you think you can win?"

"This had better not have been _your_ idea…"

"Well, I actually wanted a guild-wide battle royal to determine who was the strongest in Fairy Tail once and for all, but Gramps wouldn't sanction that one," Natsu shrugged. "So making you compete in the race was my second choice, but I think it's a pretty good alternative, since you keep refusing to fight me normally!"

"Oh, really? You think you stand a chance against me in a contest of speed?"

"Yeah, I don't really think you've thought this one through, Natsu," Gray advised.

A second round of Makarov's staff striking the bar brought the boys' conversation to a halt before it could escalate into another argument. Their Master had returned once more to his makeshift stage, and was waiting for silence.

"Maybe this is him retracting his previous announcement," Lucy murmured hopefully.

"Ahem. I have been asked to clarify a few things about tomorrow's race, so here goes." Makarov rested both hands atop his staff and closed his eyes, aware that the entire guild was hanging onto his every word. "First of all, in response to popular demand after last year's race, we have a new rule in place this time. Any and all kinds of flying magic are forbidden."

"What?" Happy demanded.

"WHAT?" Jellal screeched.

"Heh." Natsu smirked at his outraged expression. "Things aren't looking so one-sided any more, huh, Siegrain?" he teased, and earned himself a furious glare in return.

Makarov was still speaking. "All other rules will be as usual. And secondly, since some of you have been asking – yes, the route will be the same as always, so prepare yourself."

"And what route would that be?" Jellal asked icily.

"Hmm." There was a crafty glint in the Guild Master's eyes. "I think it'll be more fun if you find that out on the day, don't you?" And then his words became a warning to the rest of the guild. "If anyone tells him the route, there'll be trouble."

"Fine. If that's how you want to play it, then fine. Have your fun while you still can." A cold dare; a dark threat. Jellal got slowly to his feet. "If you think I'm going to back down from a challenge like this then you're sorely mistaken. Stack the odds against me as much as you want. I'll compete in your stupid race. And what's more, I'm going to win it."

And with that declaration, he wheeled around and marched defiantly out of the guildhall.

Lucy nudged Erza pointedly. "See what I mean about dramatic exits? That was clearly just him trying to be cool. What's he even going to do for the rest of the day now that he's left? So don't read too much into what he did the other day, okay?" And for her efforts, she received a rueful smile.

Meanwhile, Levy was staring at Natsu with something akin to amazement. "I can't believe it. You actually goaded Siegrain into a fight. I mean, you did need the Master's cooperation to pull it off, but still, Natsu… that's impressive. Nice one."

"Of course, that's only half the battle," Gray pointed out. "You still have to actually win the race if it's going to count for anything, Natsu."

"And I imagine, after everything that just happened, he'll be going all-out to try and beat you," Levy supplemented.

"Sure, but if this was easy, it wouldn't be any fun, would it?"

While most people in the group nodded approvingly at Natsu's competitive spirit, Lucy put her head in her hands. "Why did I ever think joining this guild was a good idea?"

* * *

 _ **A/N:** Another quiet chapter this time, mostly because I want to start the road race proper next chapter. I've honestly been looking forward to writing this since I started the story. Since it's a combat-like situation, but without a villain or any real danger, it suits the mood of this story perfectly, and provides so many fun opportunities... though I suppose you'll be the judge of that, when it all kicks off next week! ~CS_


	12. Breaking Bridges

**Kidnapping Erza**

By CrimsonStarbird

* * *

 **Chapter Twelve: Breaking Bridges**

Like most organized sports, the Twenty-Four-Hour Endurance Road Race had rules. Unlike most organized sports, however, the group in charge of its organization was Fairy Tail, which meant that said rules were at all times subservient to the general guiding principle of Makarov's guild: anything goes.

Although the race itself was not scheduled to begin until midday, many participants had started preparing the moment Makarov finished his announcement: in a guild-wide event such as this, scheming was par for the course. For Levy in particular, the competition began with a knock on her door at around five minutes to midnight.

She had been in bed just finishing the chapter of her book at the time, and at the unexpected sound, she slipped a bookmark into the volume, threw her dressing gown over her pyjamas, and drew back the bolt. She was expecting to find one of the other girls standing there, most likely Lucy, looking for last-minute advice about the upcoming race. She was certainly not expecting to find herself staring into the face of a certain councillor-turned-Fairy-Tail-mage.

Levy blinked up at him twice before concluding he wasn't a figment of her imagination, and asked, "What are you doing here?"

"Let me in," Jellal said, and then, as if that had somehow been an invitation from her to him rather than just an order on his part, he brushed past her and entered the room.

"Hey- _hey!_ " she demanded indignantly. "What do you think you're doing? Didn't I tell you what would happen if you dared to come near the girls' dorms again? Do you _want_ me to call the police?"

He ignored her threats, leaning casually up against one of the many bookcases and folding his arms. "Tell me what the route is for the race tomorrow."

After a long moment, Levy let out a deep sigh, and closed the door to her room. "I can't. I do think the Master is being a bit unfair to you, but, you know, I can't really go against his direct instruction…"

"I didn't say I wanted you to help me for nothing," Jellal overrode her coolly.

It was then that she noticed the leather strap of a satchel stretching from his shoulder to the opposite hip – an unusual accessory for the Wizard Saint, who liked to travel as light as possible so that he was ready to fight at the drop of a hat. Keeping her voice as steady as possible, so as not to betray her hopes, she inquired, "Brought something to trade, have you?"

"I have indeed."

Her eyes lit up as he reached into the satchel and pulled out something definitely book-shaped. Rosy lacrima light danced along a binding of scaled hide; flashed from the gold-printed calligraphy upon the spine. She breathed, "Is that… no, it can't be. Is it? It is, isn't it?"

"It is. _A History of Society as the History of Magic,_ the original edition – and I'll lend it to you for a week, if you help me."

"I have _always_ wanted to read that! Getting hold of a copy is practically impossible these days! It was banned within an hour of publication, wasn't it?"

"Oh, yes. It argues – argues _brilliantly_ – that the development of our entire civilization can be reduced to the choices and actions of the ten percent of the population who have manifested magic. Even for the Magic Council, that was a bit much." He shrugged; the political implications were of little relevance to him. "To anyone who has actually read it, it's clear that it really is nothing more than a genuine history, rather than a manifesto for the domination of mages over non-mages, but it has obviously been interpreted as such, so you can't really fault the Council's decision there. Besides, you simply _can't_ accurately describe the history of our society in that way. But for all its failings, it remains a fantastic metahistory; the best I've ever read. Nothing else even comes close. Subject matter aside, it would have revolutionized the entire way we look at history, if the Council had allowed it to be published."

"Hmm…"

It wasn't as though she couldn't see what he was doing – how carefully he was watching for her reactions; how casually he was selecting his words to play most effectively on her interests. Still, it was probably more a force of habit than anything else. They both knew he had won from the moment she admitted she felt sorry for him; since she had let him speak rather than following through on her threat to throw him out of the building. He continued simply because he could.

"It's an original copy as well – one of the fifteen produced by the printer before the Rune Knights raided the place, rather than one of the incomplete versions assembled later from manuscript fragments. It's a hundred years old, and in perfect condition. The Council think _I_ have it, so don't do anything stupid like parading around with it in a public place and getting arrested. I've gone to a lot of trouble for you here, Levy, so you'd better not let me down."

"I know how to be careful!" she objected. "I haven't been caught yet, have I?"

"I don't think that's the sort of thing you should be saying to a member of the Magic Council," he pointed out, with raised eyebrows.

"Oh, shush," she retorted, reaching out for the book.

Jellal made to hand it to her, only to pull it back at the last minute. "Tell me about the road race."

"…Fine," she conceded. "I'll tell you everything."

* * *

Eleven-thirty the following morning found the entire guild dutifully – or perhaps fearfully, when it came to this special punishment of Makarov's – assembled outside the guildhall. Considering the last-minute nature of the event, an impressive number of townsfolk had also gathered to watch the start of the race. Even a reporter from the Weekly Sorcerer magazine was there, flitting between the contestants and the crowd, collecting the best gossip and working out the odds on the most likely victor. An inflatable arch had been erected to double as the start and finish line, and it was around this that the hundred or so guild mages swarmed, with attitudes ranging from thoroughly excited to unhappily nervous.

Lucy was very much towards the latter end of that spectrum. The day was bright and sunny; a relief to many but a disappointment to her, who had secretly harboured the hope that a freak rainstorm might have prompted the Master to cancel the event. Then again, knowing him, he would probably have made them go ahead with it anyway, so perhaps the mild temperature and cloudless skies were for the best.

Endurance running wasn't something Lucy was particularly good at. Well, to be more accurate, it wasn't something she had ever seriously tried before, but her experience with other kinds of running was enough to put her off. She had a good level of physical fitness, as it was practically a requirement for all practising mages, but there was a difference between being able to hold her own in a prolonged magical battle and running for twenty-four hours straight.

She had spent all night worrying that everyone was going to be as fired-up as Natsu, all professional sportswear and bare muscles and ridiculous levels of enthusiasm. And of course there were people like that. Gray wasn't about to be outdone by Natsu, and had already stripped down to his underwear in order to save time on trying to do it while running. The two boys were currently managing to perform calm warm-up stretches and loudly trash-talk each other at the same time.

Erza was the same, though fortunately she was above trying to intimidate the opposition, and even more fortunately, she had elected to keep all her clothes on. She was dressed in comfortable jogging gear which showed off her enviably athletic frame, while a sweat band swept her hair out of her eyes.

Similarly, even though he was stood apart from everyone else, who kept their distance in mutual distrust, Gajeel was clearly prepared to take this event as seriously as any of them. It was his first time participating in anything as a Fairy Tail mage, so it offered a way for him to make a good impression upon the rest of his new guild.

And then there was Jellal… and it was impossible to even look at him without becoming completely demoralized. As he had promised, he was here to win. He was equipped with full combat gear: tracksuit trousers enabling full manoeuvrability, and a sleek black sleeveless top that showed off his frankly ridiculous physique. Every inch of him rippled with energy. He was intense and focussed; the apathetic, perpetually grumpy councillor who could normally be found around the guildhall had vanished, and in his place was the man who had triumphed over an enemy who had got the better of the entire rest of the guild. He was terrifying, he was incredible, and Lucy, who didn't even own any sports gear and so had turned up dressed in an old t-shirt and a pair of shorts, had never felt more out of place in her life.

Fortunately, not everyone in the guild was quite that crazy. As Lucy studied the mages milling around by the start line, relief began to creep into her posture. Many were simply wearing old clothes like she was. Some were carrying portable music players, some had maps, and a surprising number of them shouldered backpacks – out of place in an official sporting event, perhaps, but not at all in one hosted by Fairy Tail.

And that, she supposed, was what Levy meant when she had assured her, "Anything goes."

* * *

"Does the Master really expect us to run for twenty-four hours straight?" Lucy had asked her bleakly, when they were preparing the evening before. "I don't think that's physically possible…"

Fortunately, Levy had been able to cheerfully reassure her. "Don't worry. Twenty-four hours is a reasonable target for the route he gives us. If you ran it solidly with no breaks, you could probably do it in about eighteen hours. Maybe sixteen; maybe even less, for some people in the guild. Jet can do it in four, but why the Master hasn't banned his magic from the race, I have no idea…

"Most people will take twenty-two, twenty-three hours over it. Going that long without eating is bad enough, let alone when you're constantly moving, so most people will either take provisions with them and stop to eat when they feel like a break, or take money instead and drop in at a convenience store or fast-food place to grab snacks as they go. Likewise, it's not at all unusual for people to stop for a nap when it gets to around midnight. This could entail camping somewhere along the trail, or, if you time it right, there are a couple of pretty cheap hotels along the route. So you'll also get people who'll bring along a sleeping bag, or a change of clothes; that sort of thing.

"It depends how you want to play it really, Lucy. You can take it seriously, race to win, and go through one hell of an exhausting day, or you can take it easy, just do enough to keep up with the main pack, bring along the luxuries you're prepared to carry, and not have too bad a time of it."

"What do you normally do?" Lucy had asked in trepidation.

"Me? Well… I know that in a straight physical competition, I'm no match for Erza or Natsu. On the other hand, in a race involving the entire guild, where there is basically no limit on magic usage and we're running in the real world where all kinds of uncontrollable external factors are in play… anything can happen. I'm going to travel light, make sure I have plenty of cash on me, and play it by ear."

"…You know, I was really hoping you were going to say that you were happy taking it easy."

"That is what I did last year, I'll admit. Droy and I jogged in the middle of the pack the entire way. But, with everything that's happened recently… I don't want to lag behind any more. I'm going to give it my all."

"I know, I know. I'll do my best too, but…" There were some things Lucy was cut out for, and some things she was not. Competing against her fellow guild mages in an endurance race was definitely the latter kind. "It's kind of hard to find any motivation at all when I know I don't stand a chance in something like this."

"Ah, but you don't _know_ that. In this race, very few things are explicitly banned. The trick is to think outside the box. I told you that Jet can run the whole course in a quarter of the time it takes someone like Natsu, right? You'd think he'd be guaranteed victory, but he lost once, three years ago."

"How could he possibly have lost?"

"As I said, as a general guideline, anything goes in the road race. You can make use of anything you find along the way: food stands, hotels, vehicles… ah, you see now, don't you? The rules concerning vehicles were a little different back then – the only restriction was that you couldn't bring your own. Well, the race began as usual, but the moment we made it to the next city, Mira disappeared in the town centre… and reappeared a few minutes later, having rented a motorbike from a shop she used to visit often. She completed the course in just over two hours. Needless to say, after that incident, the Master modified the rules to ban all personal vehicles, whether rented or owned, including carriages and magic-propelled cars."

" _Personal_ vehicles?"

"Privately owned ones. The use of public transport, on the other hand, is very much encouraged. There aren't any train routes running close enough to the course to be of any help, but that just means you have to get a little creative," Levy had added, with a slightly unnerving smile. "That's the thing. As long as you touch the halfway point and return, you're free to interpret the parts in between however you like. Even 'running' is more a suggestion than an actual rule. The usual route that most people take, for example, heads straight through a major city called Albrecht, which has a pretty neat tram system going from one edge of the city to the other. It's not fast – probably slower than jogging it, to be honest, especially if you have to wait for the tram to arrive – but if you time it right and reach the terminal just as it's about to leave, it's a great way to sit down and rest, and even eat, without losing much time."

"You know," Lucy had said, after a long and thoughtful pause, "The more I learn about this road race, the more worried I become. As if the sheer amount of running isn't bad enough, there's all this strategy to contend with as well…"

And Levy had just clapped her on the back in a manner that was probably supposed to be supportive. "You can do it, Lucy."

"Yeah…"

* * *

"Lucy!"

The sound of Levy's real voice, rather than its echo in Lucy's memory, dragged her back to the present. A quick scan of the crowd allowed her to quickly pinpoint the short girl, who was pushing her way towards her friend.

As Lucy had been expecting, Levy was wearing loose-fitting, comfortable clothes – a vest top and short shorts, in the bright summer colours she favoured. After their discussion, however, Lucy had very much not been expecting her friend to rock up dragging a cart with her.

But that was indeed what was accompanying Levy: an old wooden cart, not quite reaching as high as her hips, a couple of feet wide and around twice as long, and supported by four sturdy wheels. It was stacked full of supplies, ranging from an elaborate picnic set, complete with crockery and a hamper, to what looked like a small tent. Even a couple of books were tucked down the side. A short rope was attached to the front of the cart, the other end of which was thrown over Levy's shoulder to allow her to pull the entire contraption along. She was already puffing and panting under the weight of it, and the race hadn't even started yet.

"Umm, Levy…" Lucy glanced from her friend to the cart she was pulling, and then back to Levy's wide grin. "What?"

"Strategy!"

"But, Levy…" She shook her head in disbelief. "Yesterday, you told me that you were serious about competing, and that you like to travel light for the race. So why on earth have you packed enough stuff for a week-long camping holiday?"

Levy beckoned for her to lean in close, and whispered her response in an undertone. "Don't tell anyone, but all that equipment is just to throw people off the scent. I'm ditching it as soon as we're out of sight of the main pack. The cart's the important thing, and I don't want people figuring that out."

"I don't think anyone's going to figure that out, don't worry…"

"Anyway, Lucy, I came to see you because I wanted to propose a partnership. It's your first race, and I honestly think I'm going to need a little help to pull off this plan, because the cart is heavier than I thought – so how about we form a team and work together?"

"A team? We're just running; why do we need to be in a team?"

Levy gave an exasperated sigh. "Look, Lucy. Weren't you listening to anything yesterday? There are two ways to win the road race: with brawn, or with brains. Now, if you want to try and out-brawn the likes of Natsu and Gray, you can be my guest. But if you want to even the odds a little, then fight smart, and help me drag this goddamn cart."

"I…" Well, it couldn't make things any worse, could it? "Alright, fine, let's team up. But first you've got to tell me why we need the cart. And isn't it against the vehicle rules, anyway?"

"Nah, I checked with the Master and it's fine, since there's no way of propelling it other than by dragging it along. And we need it because it's our weapon. Siegrain has a plan and I'm pretty sure I've worked out what that plan is, and this cart is the means by which we're going to stay one step ahead of him."

Both of them glanced around for the man Levy had mentioned. He hadn't moved from his position close to start line, his hands in his pockets as he surveyed his competition. The fierce icy aura he was emitting dissuaded anyone, spectator or competitor, from getting too close. He did not have a cart with him. In fact, he did not appear to have anything on his person at all, leading Lucy to wonder what on earth this plan of his was supposed to be – and then a thought occurred to her.

"Hang on, Levy. How can Siegrain possibly have a plan to win the race when he didn't even know the route until the Master officially announced it a few minutes ago?"

"Ah." Levy glanced away sheepishly. "I, uh, may have told him the route last night."

"Why?" Lucy demanded, more surprised than outraged. But of course, when it came to her friend, it was never that difficult to guess. "Levy, did he bribe you with a rare book?"

"It wasn't a bribe! It was… a business deal. You know, an exchange of assets."

"Levy…"

"Hey, life's not going to end when this race does, you know? Give it three days, and everyone in the guild will have completely forgotten that this road race even happened. I, on the other hand, will still have the book he lent me. It's about thinking ahead, Lucy. That's all."

"Alright, alright…" Lucy conceded, trying to suppress a smile. "You've done a complete one-eighty on that man since we caught him sneaking around in Erza's room, haven't you? Two weeks ago, you hated him."

"Oh, I still think he's a pervert. But he's also pretty interesting to have around, so as far as I'm concerned, as long as he doesn't do anything inappropriate, and tries to act more like a decent human being, it all kind of balances out. Besides, you can't talk. You're trying to get him and Erza together, aren't you?"

"I, uh… might be."

They exchanged knowing looks. Erza was their friend; they both wanted to look out for her, and they both wanted her to be happy. Now was neither the time nor the place for this discussion, however, and Levy dived in with a brisk change of subject before things got too serious.

"Ah, it looks like the Master's getting us to line up for the start of the race. Right, Lucy. Here's what we're going to do. We're going to run with everyone else at the start of the race; you, me, plus cart. We'll follow the normal route through Magnolia until we get out of the city and to the crossroads. Now, most people will go straight on at the crossroads, as that's the most direct road to the halfway point. We, however, are going to jump into the bushes and hide until everyone else has gone past. We're then going to empty the cart – I'll come back to pick the stuff up after the race – and take the left-hand fork at the crossroads, so that we can drag the cart up to the top of Lookout Hill."

"Lookout Hill?" Lucy frowned; if she remembered correctly, that was the name given informally to one of the largest hills near the city, where once upon a time a watchtower had been stationed. "That's miles out of our way!"

"Trust me, Lucy. It's all part of the plan."

"If you say so…"

And so Lucy found herself trailing despondently behind a chirpy Levy and her incomprehensible cart as they joined everyone else at the start line, wondering what on earth she had got herself into this time.

* * *

"Ready, set… go!"

As the Master's shout rang out across the expectant crowd, the mages at the start line burst into life. Anticipation and an utterly irrational enthusiasm became pure energy, which promptly – because this was Fairy Tail – dissolved into chaos.

Jellal had been repeatedly reminded in the minutes leading up to the race that while the use of almost any kind of magic was allowed, attacking other competitors without provocation was frowned upon, and turning the race into a brawl by immediately trying to start a fight would get him disqualified. While winning the 'race' by rendering all his opponents unable to walk through injury was an appealing thought, he didn't particularly fancy taking on the entire guild at once, especially when some of his opponents would likely escape in the ensuing melee. No, he had no intention of starting a fight right from the outset.

Not that his lack of intervention meant a free-for-all didn't start itself. With so many mages packed into one tight space, all employing their magic on the same signal to fight their way through the crowd in front of them, degeneration of the orderly starting line-up into sheer madness took all of about three seconds.

Those who had experience with the road race were prepared for the anarchy to hit, and had made it their business to get as far away as quickly as possible in order to avoid being caught up in it. Jet immediately took the lead, whose magic-fuelled acceleration of nought to 'faster than the eye can see' in point-five of a second launched anyone unlucky enough to be standing in his way straight off their feet. After that, the race's strongest contenders – Erza, Natsu and Gray – took an early lead, closely followed by Juvia, and a surprisingly fired-up Gajeel. Levy had strongly advised against Lucy's suggestion of starting off slow and pacing themselves, and was now hurtling along the road dragging the cart with one hand and Lucy with the other. Those who weren't fortunate enough to make it into the breakaway group were promptly swallowed up by the ensuing riot.

All except Jellal, that was. When the Master had started the race and the tsunami of chaos had been unleashed, he alone hadn't moved a muscle. The rest of the guild paid him no heed and surged onwards, with the result that when the brawl broke out, there was a buffer of several safe metres between him and the melee. He simply stood back behind the line with his hands in his pockets. Apart from ducking the odd stray bolt of magic that came his way, he showed no signs of motion whatsoever. Rather, he seemed content just to watch the situation unfold.

Even after the majority of mages had managed to extract themselves from the fray and set off down the road, he remained exactly where he was. Mira, who was providing commentary on the race and helping Makarov keep an eye on the competitors through the use of floating surveillance lacrima, watched him bemusedly for a few minutes, and when he still failed to make a move, she hurried over and tapped him on the shoulder. "You haven't changed your mind about running in the race, have you?"

"Not at all."

He was completely nonchalant; Mira wondered why she had expected anything else. "This is a strategy, then?"

A shrug. She figured that probably meant yes. "I didn't much fancy getting caught up in that rabble earlier, that's all."

"Fair enough. Still, I'd have thought you'd have preferred to be ahead of the fight, rather than behind it. This is only making things more difficult for you."

"Naturally. It wouldn't be much of a competition otherwise."

In all the time that they had been conversing, Jellal's eyes had not left the vanishing crowd of competitors for a moment; the lightness in his voice deliberately misrepresented how seriously he was taking the situation. He was so calm, so focussed – irrespective of the magic Mira could sense burning eagerly within him, _this_ was the man who had become the youngest ever Wizard Saint.

As soon as the last of his opponents vanished from view, he turned to Mira and announced, "Well, if you'll excuse me, it's about time for me to head off."

And with his hands still in his pockets, he set off at a leisurely walk – down a road perpendicular to the one everybody else had just run down.

After a few startled seconds, Mira ran after him and caught him easily. "Siegrain! You do know you're going the wrong way, right?"

Completely at ease, he stopped in the middle of the road; observing her disbelief was far more fun to him than making swift progress in the race. "Wrong. I am, in fact, going precisely the right way."

She shook her head. "I know you're not very familiar with Magnolia, having only lived here for two weeks, but the route the others are taking is categorically the shortest path to the goal."

"It might be the shortest route, but that doesn't mean it's the fastest. That particular path may well turn out to be impassable."

He looked far too smug for this to be a bluff. Mira insisted, "The Master asked me to ride that route this morning, just to check that we were okay to run. It's completely clear."

"Ah, but you know how unpredictable the weather can be this time of year," he countered easily. "Freak storms, flash floods, stray meteors… anything could happen."

Mira laughed, understanding the implication at once. "I must say, I don't think stray meteors have ever been a problem in Magnolia before."

"But as you yourself said, Mira – I've only been here for two weeks."

"Astronomical phenomena are a common occurrence in Era, are they?" she teased.

"When people piss me off, they are."

There it was again – that fierce grin, that sparkling determination, that refusal to lose to anyone; a sheer free-spirited competitiveness that threw Council formalities out of the window and embraced the challenge for its own sake. It was an attitude that matched perfectly the guild mark stamped on the back of his left hand. Mira smiled to herself, and wisely decided not to share that reflection with him.

Jellal didn't care much for her observations. His thoughts were a long way away. "Well, I'd best be off. See you at the finish line." Raising a hand in farewell, he resumed his casual stroll in completely the wrong direction.

* * *

As Jellal had learned from Levy, there was no pre-set route that the runners had to follow. The rules specified that everyone had to start outside the guild, grab one of the wyvern scales that the Master had hidden in the crags to the north-west of the city, and return to the finish line outside the guildhall. As long as those three conditions were met, the rest of the route was open to geographical interpretation – and it was very much in the vein of 'anything goes'.

Levy had sketched out for him the standard route, which mostly stuck to main roads for ease of passage and went through several villages and at least one major city. While it may have been technically shorter to cut the odd corner by passing through fields and forests, the trickier terrain, the difficulty of navigation without a reliable map, and the absence of the basic amenities offered by civilization all conspired to produce a unanimous consensus that the road route was the one to take.

For the most part, there was nothing dangerous, special, or extreme about the standard route that Jellal could turn to his advantage. The length itself was the biggest obstacle. Most of the action traditionally took place within the crags that marked the halfway point of the race – by all accounts an inhospitable environment, marked by ridges prone to collapsing, perilously deep chasms, and a maze of tunnels, ledges, and natural hazards made all the more dangerous by the fact that night had usually fallen by the time the first competitors reached it. There was little he could do about that until he got there, though.

But the route did have one weak point: it crossed a major river, which bisected the plains in two. This was no tame country stream – it was the kind of river that anglers would stay well clear from even at the best of times, and was responsible for acres of flooding damage at the worst. Too turbulent for small boats, and too shallow and narrow for sturdier ones, falling into that wild water was suicide for all but the strongest swimmers.

Of course, no one had to swim the river. The route led directly to a major bridge, which connected the trading route on the near bank to the city called Albrecht on the other. With the infrastructure firmly on their side, the river wasn't a part of the course that anyone ever had to worry about. But if something were to happen to that bridge…

Well, there were other bridges, naturally. But the ferocity of the river meant that every single crossing was a massive construction project, and as such, where many tamer rivers would have footpaths across them at frequent intervals, this particular one did not. If that main bridge fell, the next nearest one was a good few hours' walk up or downstream – a diversion significant enough to put anyone who wasn't able to swim that deadly river out of the competition.

If one suspected that the bridge wasn't going to be passable, and took the diversion from the start, the time penalty would be negligible, but that was precisely why Jellal had no intention of destroying it until the frontrunners had almost reached it – nor of giving his opponents the slightest clue as to what he was up to.

And that was why, when everyone else was following the normal route along the main road from the start line to the Albrecht Bridge, he was stood instead on top of an enormous hill just outside Magnolia, while the tail end of the same deadly river wound its way along at its foot.

Save for the wildlife which inhabited the local woodland, he was completely alone. He was far enough now from the town for the distance to absorb all sounds of civilization. Before him, the steep slope of the hill, adorned with ageless fir trees and giant boulders, raced down towards the wild river's narrowest part.

He had climbed the hill at a leisurely pace, conserving as much of his energy as possible – no easy task, when the anticipation burning in his chest was pushing him to go faster and faster. He had completely recovered from his stint in the hospital, and his encounter with Laxus; in fact, having now gone two or three boring days without using any magic at all, he was ready and raring to fight. It was hard to project his usual image of calm control… and even harder to wait.

Timing was essential. If he misjudged how long it would take the others to reach the bridge, it would cost him everything. Two and a half hours, Levy had assured him, and this had been before she had picked up on his excessive interest in the bridge and become guarded; he was certain she had been completely honest about it. This was his only chance. He wasn't going to waste it.

His eyes were closed. His arms were stretched out in front of him, palms upturned, a prayer to the heavens. He listened – to the curious songs of the birds; to the rushing of the wind through the trees; to the deceptively quiet bubbling of the deadly river; to the racing of his own heartbeat. The wind seemed to wrap around him in an affectionate embrace.

The darkness was full of light, the source of his power, bright, burning, demanding that he look at it and it alone. A voice echoed from somewhere deep within, erasing all traces of the physical world; it whispered words he could not make out, but that he understood nonetheless. Above him, the firmament blazed in all its glory. Even in the middle of the afternoon, it was always visible, always to him. He called to the heavens and they answered. The magic within his body, offered up as a sacrifice, became the power to change the world.

At anything less than his full strength, he wouldn't have dared attempt a feat like this. Calling magic this powerful was dangerous enough without the added complication of using something other than his own body as the focus. Not only was the bridge an external target, but it was so far away that he couldn't even see it without a pair of binoculars. The power he could invoke would drop exponentially with the distance from his body, but he needed the range more than he needed that cataclysmic devastation right now.

After he had left Levy's room last night, a plan already forming in his mind, he hadn't gone to get some rest – no, he had gone straight to the nearest Council outpost. Engineering was hardly his specialty, but he vaguely recalled a top-secret report the Council had commissioned a few months ago investigating the potential terrorist risks posed to important pieces of infrastructure, with the aim of improving them in the future. There it was: a classified document telling him exactly where all the Albrecht Bridge's structural weak points were.

Of course, even knowing exactly where to hit the bridge, not even he could produce enough force to break it completely from this distance. But that was precisely why he'd paid it a visit straight afterwards and stuck explosives he'd stolen from the Rune Knights' store to the underneath of its most vulnerable point. The impact from his magic would trigger them remotely, and then _boom._ The river would do the rest. No more bridge, and an enormous time penalty for those foolish enough to believe he was just going to run with everyone else. Why make this a fair contest of speed when he could abuse his resources to guarantee himself victory instead?

Sometimes he couldn't believe they'd let someone like him join the Council.

A stray meteor, he had promised Mira, but 'stray' implied 'unpredictable', and as he rewrote the firmament's ageless song into a pattern that better suited his purposes, the flight path of this particular meteor was completely under his control. It was difficult to command at so great a distance, but by no means impossible, not when he turned his full concentration, and the full phenomenal might of his magic, to the task. His control was absolute, and his aim, even blind, was perfect. He could neither see nor hear the impact, but he did not need to; he felt the ripples racing through the magic of the heavens and knew he had succeeded.

When he opened his eyes, there was a grin affixed to his face. _This_ was what he was truly capable of. If Fairy Tail still thought they could take him on, if Erza still thought to defy him, if Makarov still thought to interfere in his ultimate plan – _let them try._ They would suffer the same fate as that innocent bridge. This was the skill, the ingenuity, the _power_ that was going to change the world.

But first, that power was going to win him this goddamn race.

As the intense concentration of magic swirling around his body faded, he felt a sudden light-headedness; if he hadn't been able to lean against a nearby tree, he would have fallen to the ground. He supposed it was only to be expected. Fortunately, he could afford to rest for a little while. Even once the other runners discovered what he had done to their bridge, it would take them hours to find another way across the river, giving him a significant lead-

"LOOK OUT BELOOOOOW!"

The exclamation shattered the serenity so suddenly that Jellal jumped a mile. Magic was already sparking at his fingertips, ready to defend him from the unexpected threat, even as he scanned his surroundings for the source of the shout.

In the next instant there was a thunderous rattle and a blur of motion, and something shot past him too quickly for the eye to see.

"…Eh?" Jellal demanded of the swirling air currents left in its wake. "What the hell was that?"

And then: "Don't tell me I've lost my lead already."

Heaving a sigh, he clapped his hands briskly to his cheeks, as if to wake himself up. He couldn't afford to take a break now if he wanted a chance of reclaiming first place. "You know," he said to himself, "Sometimes, I really _really_ hate this guild."

And with that final lament, he set off down the hill at a run.

* * *

"Hey, Lucy!" Even though the two of them couldn't physically be sat any closer together, it still took Levy yelling at the top of her voice for the other girl to hear her over the rushing wind. "Isn't this great?"

That wasn't quite the word Lucy would have chosen, no.

She wasn't entirely sure what she had been thinking when she had agreed to help Levy haul the cart up to the top of the hill, but if she had known exactly what the other girl was planning, she would have taken her chances with the bridge. Not even in her worst nightmares had she anticipated that the road race would involve her careening down the side of the steepest hill she had ever seen at what felt like a hundred miles an hour in a rackety old cart that had definitely not been designed for human transport.

"Did you see the look on Siegrain's face as we went past him?" Levy laughed, not seeming to notice her partner's unresponsiveness. "Dragging this cart along was _so_ worth it!"

Privately, Lucy thought Levy's laughter was bordering on hysterical, but since her life was currently in the euphoric girl's hands, she decided it was wiser not to comment. Instead, she screwed her eyes shut and tightened her grip around the wooden sides of the cart. It didn't help that Levy was clearly having the time of her life. At long last, Lucy had proof that it wasn't just the likes of Natsu and Erza who were a little too fond of dangerous situations – _everyone_ in Fairy Tail had a screw loose.

"Levy…?" she began uncertainly.

"What's that, Lucy?" the girl yelled back. "Speak up! I can't hear you over the wind!"

The out-of-control cart hit a rock and was launched several feet into the air. Levy gave a gleeful whoop. Somehow they landed the right way up, hurtling downhill even faster than before, if that were possible; Lucy closed her eyes and waited for her stomach to return to its proper place before giving voice to her concerns.

"Does this cart have any brakes?"

Ideally, Levy would have turned around and given her friend an exasperated look, but since the cramped confines of the box made that impossible, she had to settle for using the most patronizing tone she could muster. "Lucy, it's a box on wheels. Does it _look_ like it has any brakes?"

"How are we going to stop?"

"We're not going to stop. That's the whole point."

"…Right. Only, I can't help but notice that there's a massive river at the foot of this hill, and we're heading straight for it."

"We're going to jump the river!"

"…"

"…"

"…Oh my God, we're going to die."

"Nah, I've got this all worked out. I'll make us a ramp with Solid Script, and we'll fly straight over the river and take the lead! What do you think? Pretty smart, huh?"

"I'm thinking that I always knew this guild was going to be the death of me, and I should have left while I had the chance."

"Oh, Lucy," Levy grinned, and then the river was right in front of them, and the ground was far behind, and anything else that might have happened was lost to Lucy as she clung onto her friend and tried not to think about death.

* * *

 _ **A/N:** Okay, so my naïve hope of wrapping up this race in a single chapter didn't last very long. But I felt as though the race needed more rules. Or fewer rules, depending on how you look at it. Jellal isn't remotely interested in a fair competition when he can ensure his victory through a typically over-complicated scheme, though his actions are well within the race's guidelines (if not *quite* within the law. At least when Fairy Tail destroys vital pieces of infrastructure, it tends to be by accident. But hey, everything's expendable when you're going to destroy the world anyway!). And Lucy and Levy were so much fun to write here; they really ran away with this chapter. Ah well. More race next week. And maybe there'll be some actual running this time... ~CS_


	13. Building Bridges

**Kidnapping Erza**

By CrimsonStarbird

* * *

 **Chapter Thirteen: Building Bridges**

"…Ah," said Natsu. "This might be a bit of a problem."

The breakaway group of road-racers had reached the river at last, and found there a scene of utter devastation. The major trading bridge, an impressive span of magic-shaped steel and high-tension cables, and as familiar an image in these parts as the guildhall was in Magnolia, had been torn apart. The highest quality construction materials money could buy hadn't been able to stand up to the forces and the temperatures that Jellal – and his carefully planted explosives – had invoked.

Fragments of twisted steel protruded from the riverbed like a gruesome ribcage. Only the two ends of the bridge, on firm ground at either side, had been left unharmed; both now sported jagged edges and one leaned at such a sharp angle towards the water that it was only a matter of time before it too was swallowed by the river. Sparks of latent magic jumped from the wreckage, as if they needed proof that this was no natural disaster.

"What happened here?" Gray wondered.

Still jogging on the spot to conserve her momentum, Erza touched the warm wreckage of the bridge, letting the lingering magic wash over her fingers. "Siegrain did this. I'm sure of it."

"How?" Natsu demanded, glancing over his shoulder as Gajeel and Juvia drew level with the three of them. "I swear he was behind us! He couldn't possibly have got here first – not without using his flying magic! If he's cheating-"

"Maybe he didn't need to be here in person to pull off something like this," Gray shrugged.

"No wonder he looked so smug at the start line," Natsu growled, and he stamped his foot on the ground in childish annoyance. "Gah! I won't stand for this! I'll find another bridge!"

"Suit yourself," Erza said, activating Requip and replacing her jogging gear with ornate blue-green armour; a sea serpent's scales. Fearlessly, she sprinted straight towards the river. Her silver-booted foot touched the surface of the water and didn't break through. To the magic of her Sea Empress Armour, she might as well have been running along solid rock – albeit solid rock which was undergoing a magnitude-ten earthquake.

Walking on water was a neat trick when the water in question was a calm lake. When it was essentially white water rapids, by contrast, Erza was immediately forced to throw elegance out of the window in favour of frantic arm-waving in a vain attempt to maintain her balance, eventually concluding that half-rolling, half-scurrying on all fours was the most reliable way of crossing to the other side.

While Natsu and Gray watched her go, torn between sniggering at their friend's ungainly motion and panicking that she was getting ahead of them, Juvia made her own advance on the river. "Water is no barrier to Juvia!" she declared, reaching down and touching its surface. Instantly her body shimmered and became transparent, before breaking down completely and merging with the river.

"At this rate, we really are gonna be left behind!" Natsu exclaimed in alarm.

"Speak for yourself," his companion retorted. "Ice Make!" He slammed his right fist into the opposite palm, then dropped into a crouch and pressed both his hands into the water. The surface immediately froze, a circle of ice expanding out from his hands – but it only got a fraction of the way to the other side before the rushing torrent proved too much for it, and violent waves smashed the icy surface to pieces. He cursed out loud.

"You were saying?" Natsu smirked.

Unsurprisingly, the provocation only strengthened Gray's resolve. With a wordless growl, he struck the river again, sending a line of ice racing outwards. This time, he knew better than to try freezing the entire river at once, and as soon as the ice started to form, he was already sprinting madly across it. He managed about three steps before the current tore the ice free of the riverbank; he swore again, dropping to his hands and knees for stability as his new iceberg was swept downstream.

To his credit, Gray stayed calm. A flash of magic created another iceberg, which he leapt across to in the nick of time as his first shattered against a fang-like protrusion of broken bridge. In his haste, he overreached himself; he slipped upon landing and scrabbled desperately to stop himself from falling in, even less graceful than Erza. Somehow he made it to a twisted steel girder sticking up out of the middle of the river and wrapped his arms and legs around it in relief, clinging on for dear life, while the hungry waves seethed just inches below his feet.

Back on the bank, Natsu was watching this display in hysterics. "At least I'm getting somewhere!" Gray snapped at him, over the crashing of the river. An idea came to him and the next iceberg he created was braced against one of the broken posts of the bridge, so that it couldn't be washed away. It took several seconds for him to gather his courage and make the leap, but he reached it safely. Through a combination of lightning-fast reactions, the smart placement of icebergs, the full power of his freezing abilities, and all the underhand balancing tricks in the book, he somehow made it to the other side of the river and collapsed on the bank, utterly exhausted.

Juvia's body reformed from the water, and she emerged onto the sodden grass next to him. "Gray? Are you alright?"

"Yeah," he grunted. She offered her hand to help him up, and he took it gratefully. When his eyes fell upon Natsu, still stranded on the wrong side of the river, it seemed as though a spark of energy returned to him. "Let's get ahead while we have the chance." Juvia nodded, and the two of them began to jog towards the city.

"Hey!" Natsu shouted. "At this rate, we're not even going to get third place- huh?" He glanced around for Gajeel, expecting solidarity, and instead found himself completely alone.

The Iron Dragon Slayer had put his own plan in motion. By turning his magic inwards, he had converted most of his body to solid iron and jumped straight into the river, where the extra weight had immediately pulled him to the bottom. Immune to the raging current, he was even now making steady progress walking across the riverbed.

"…Oh." It seemed there was nothing else for it. To most people, swimming the river would have been unthinkable, but if the alternative was admitting defeat to his friends and rivals, Natsu wouldn't hesitate for a second. Taking a deep breath, he dived into the water, utilizing the fiery warmth of his magic to ward off the shock from the water's bitter cold.

If there was one good thing about the bridge being down, or so Natsu thought as he fought furiously to snatch each breath of oxygen, it was that somewhere out there, that smug councillor ought to be just as cold and wet and uncomfortable as he was.

* * *

As it happened, Jellal had no need for anything as mundane as swimming.

Flying over the river was out of the question when Makarov would have used it as an excuse to disqualify him – and then inflict this worrying punishment for losing on him – but there was a reason why he had picked this spot to carry out his plan. The local hills and valleys had encouraged the river to take on a faster, narrower, and deeper form; more dangerous to swim than anywhere else and yet possible to span with a makeshift bridge. Conveniently, the hillside leading down to the river was lined with ancient, enormous pine trees. It was a trivial matter for him to find a well-positioned one to knock down and use as an impromptu bridge. After crossing to the other side, he turned and broke it in two with a swift strike from his magic – just to make sure no one could use it to follow him.

Jellal should have been feeling confident, but he was decidedly not. With flying magic ruled out, the river should have proven an insurmountable barrier to his opposition, but he had a growing feeling of unease – most of which stemmed from the upturned cart he could see out of the corner of his eye. Its wheels still spun innocuously in the air. Its former passengers were nowhere to be seen.

On one hand, Levy was very much a special case. She was the only person in the guild who could have figured out what he was planning and taken steps to counter it, because she was the only one who could possibly have known he was planning anything at all. And he wasn't particularly worried about her or Lucy. They may have taken the lead for the time being, but there would be no opportunity for tricks in the next part of the race, and when it came to simple endurance running, neither of them would be a match for him.

But on the other hand… it was a sudden and forceful reminder of just how resourceful this damn guild was. He couldn't shake the feeling that he had overestimated the impact that bringing down the bridge would have on these particular opponents. There was every chance that the strongest of his competitors would find a way of crossing the river, and though it would surely cost them as much in time and energy as bringing down the bridge had cost him, it meant that he couldn't afford to be complacent.

So, pushing his exhaustion aside with the ease of practice, he began a steady jog towards the crags.

Since he was on a different route to anyone who had managed to cross at the point where the Albrecht Bridge had once stood, he wasn't expecting to encounter anyone else until he reached the crags, and the majority of the journey was indeed uneventful. He ran down twisting country lanes and through small, homely villages, following the route he had memorized from the map, until the brisk blue sky had melted into a gentle orange, and twilight began to settle across the countryside.

Only then did he allow himself to rest. Recalling what he had learnt about the rules of the race from Levy, he purchased food from a market in the next village he came to and hitched a ride with a passing farmer. He had been expecting to have to use his authority as a councillor to get a lift, but to his surprise, the elderly man with his wide-brimmed hat and gnarled old staff had been more than happy to let him sit in the back of the horse-drawn cart as it trundled along. It seemed Fairy Tail's road race was well-known in these parts. Once he had eaten, he lay down in the cart between the sacks of vegetables, half-listening to the old farmer talk about his preparations for the upcoming harvest festival and watching the scattered clouds drift through the most beautiful fiery sky.

It was with no small measure of reluctance that Jellal disembarked from the cart at the crossroads and set off again on his own. The rest had done him good; although the ache of prolonged exertion had settled down within his muscles and was clearly there to stay, his magic had recovered greatly during that time, and it was a trivial matter for him to borrow its energy to override the exhaustion of his body. Whether they were trained marathon runners or not, any competent mage would be able to manipulate their magic in such a way – after all, if that hadn't been the case, the mere scale of a twenty-four-hour race would have put most guild members out of the running before it had even begun.

But between this steady pace, the warmth of the early evening, the beauty of Fiore's countryside, the quiet sounds of nature, and, above all, the fact that there weren't any Fairy Tail mages in sight for the first time in what felt like forever – well, perhaps when viewed as an excuse to get out of the guildhall for a bit, this road race wasn't such a bad thing after all.

* * *

It wasn't yet pitch-black by the time Jellal reached the crags marking the race's halfway point – though it might have been if the race hadn't been brought forward to the end of August – but the beautiful twilight glow was certainly on its way out, chased by the falling gloom. The crags themselves stood out as stark mountainous silhouettes against the crimson sky. A single trail led up into the maze of crevices and ravines and ledges and caverns, beckoning him onwards.

Somewhere up there, according to Mira, the Master had placed a collection of wyvern scales for each competitor to find and bring back – a deceptively simple task. It didn't matter whether or not there were monsters or other Fairy Tail mages to fight up there; in the fading half-light, the environment itself was the enemy.

It was best to be prepared. Jellal channelled his magic down towards his left hand, which immediately began to glow with a soft golden light. It pushed back the gloom, revealing details of the obstacle ahead of him.

At the same time, he became aware of a second light bursting into existence at the edge of his vision. Bemused, he glanced over to see a figure stood on the other side of the trail. A globe of flames burning around the other's hand provided his own makeshift torch; he had noticed Jellal's light at the same time Jellal had noticed his. The two of them stared at each other for a long moment.

"Hey there," said Natsu.

"…Hey."

Neither of them moved a muscle.

"Think there's anyone ahead of us?" Natsu wondered.

"Not sure. Lucy and Levy sneaked ahead of me, but I passed them again a while back when they stopped to rest. I haven't seen anyone else."

"Erza, Gray, Juvia and Gajeel were all ahead of me," Natsu mused. "But I overtook them all in the city. Erza got distracted trying to buy a new sword in a magical blacksmith's one-day-only mega sale, and, last I saw, Juvia was trying to entice Gray into a shady hotel. Gajeel got lost in the backstreets, and was mistaken for a delinquent and arrested after he wandered into a street fight. With any luck, they'll keep him detained for a few hours."

The two of them continued to stare at each other without moving. With his voice just as light as before, Natsu continued, "Jet's probably finished already, but it could be you and me in competition for second place here."

They blinked at each other. And then, as if that was the signal, both of them were suddenly sprinting flat-out towards the crags.

They tore up the path neck and neck: running as if this was their first minute of exercise, rather than their eighth hour; refusing to yield an inch to each other as the narrowing trail forced them closer; only speeding up as the gradient increased; praying that each step would find purchase on the loose gravel; throwing caution to the wind as they entered the chasm proper, where a slip in the wrong place could mean a fatal fall.

Only at the sight of a fork approaching did Jellal slow, giving the lead to Natsu in order to scan the environment for any clues as to which way to go. Would it really have been so difficult for Makarov to have put up a sign? In the absence of any meaningful criteria to choose by, Jellal noted that the right-hand path looked more dangerous – it wound along the edge of a cliff, only inches away from a several-metre drop – and thought the safer left-hand path would probably be a sensible place to start his search.

Natsu skidded to a stop at the fork in the road, cast wild glances left and right, and then raised his hand. "Ip dip do, th- _agh!_ "

His counting rhyme because a shout as Jellal made the decision for him, namely by stepping up next to him and giving him a quick shove in the direction of the drop. Natsu tumbled helplessly down the slope, reached the bottom in a shower of dust and gravel, and jumped immediately to his feet.

"Hey!" he yelled, shaking his fist up at his smirking opponent. Determined not to let that stop him, Natsu glanced around urgently, looking for a way back up to the top path – and clearly he found something, because his eyes lit up. "Oh, would you look at that?"

The sound of that exclamation gave Jellal pause. He had been about to take the lead while Natsu was otherwise inconvenienced, but surely… No, that was exactly the kind of bad luck he had been having recently, wasn't it?

"What have you found?" he shouted down to Natsu.

"Oh, nothing," came the gleeful response. "There definitely aren't any scales down here…"

With a growl, Jellal threw himself in the direction of the drop. He somehow managed to retain his balance as he skidded down the slope, and it took him several staggering steps along level ground before he was able to stop. "Where are they?" he demanded.

Natsu just grinned at him. "I have no idea. I just _told_ you they weren't down here…"

There was angry light already blazing at both of Jellal's palms but Natsu knew better than to stick around after deliberately provoking him; there was nothing but a cloud of stone dust where the boy had been standing. Jellal listened to his hasty footsteps echoing between the rocky walls for a moment or two before thinking better of it. Retracing his steps, he reached a point where the gradient of the slope wasn't too steep to climb and he re-joined the main trail from there, this time taking the safer left-hand path at the split.

The trail wove around boulders and through narrow cracks between the rocky walls, climbing higher and higher. Jellal slowed his pace to a steady jog as the shadows lengthened; from within this perfect natural labyrinth, the sun could no longer be seen. He could neither hear Natsu nor see any light sources beside his own and the embers of the sky, and he distinctly hoped that it was because the Dragon Slayer had fallen into a hole somewhere and couldn't get out.

Not that fortune was ever on his side. He felt the sense of danger first: an unmistakable flash across his body; that power within him alerting him to the threat. Then he heard an incessantly cheerful shout from up above him: "Look out below!"

Jellal was already moving. He sprung backwards, and the small boulder which had been aiming for his head struck the ledge in front of him instead. A glance skyward filled in the gaps – Natsu had somehow got above him, standing on another ridge parallel to his own, and that was all he had time to register before Natsu chucked another rock and he was forced to jump out of the way again.

Dodging was easy, but he heard the clattering of gravel as the pebbles his motion had dislodged cascaded down into the chasm behind him, and he knew that if he had moved just a few centimetres more, he would also have gone over the edge. That was Natsu's plan, he realized, as the boy threw another missile – nothing large enough to seriously hurt him, but not so small that he would want to suffer a collision with it either – to try and push him back.

 _Anything goes,_ Levy had assured him, and while he had been told in no uncertain terms not to start an all-out fight, using magic in self-defence was perfectly acceptable. An arrow of light burst from the nimbus already surrounding his left hand, disintegrating the stone in mid-flight; a second bolt struck the rock face several metres above Natsu's head, causing a miniature rockfall of his own. The boy yelped and scurried out of the way, and Jellal took advantage of his momentary distraction to dash unimpeded along the remainder of the ridge and dive into a cave.

The inside of the rock formation was riddled with tunnels, branching off in all directions. Once, some great burrowing beast had made this place its home; hoping that it had moved out long ago, Jellal picked a direction at random and began running. He guessed that Natsu had used the tunnel network to get so high so quickly.

He rounded a corner and the prickle of numerous stars appeared in the darkness at the end of the tunnel: a way out. And not only that – one of those stars was too close, too large, too bright-burning crimson to be anything other than Natsu's flames, rapidly disappearing into the distance. He picked up speed-

No. That was too obvious. Jellal skidded to a halt before exiting the tunnel. The orb of fire had vanished too quickly; suspicious, he loitered silently in the dark, and sure enough, a few seconds later another flash of fire shot in the same direction. Natsu was tossing fireballs at intermittent intervals, no doubt towards the edge of a cliff, hoping to lure Jellal into blind pursuit and trick him into falling.

As if such a simple trap was going to work on him. From the fireball's angle of trajectory, he deduced that Natsu was lying in wait… on a ledge directly above the tunnel's exit.

Jellal drew upon his magic and used it to send forth a flurry of light rays. No sooner had they made it out into the open than they reversed direction and fanned out, pummelling the rock face above the cave's mouth. Natsu gave a shout, and Jellal felt a rush of satisfaction-

Except Natsu wasn't shouting in pain, but in triumph. "You'd have been better off taking the bait," the boy called down to him. "Though, I'd hoped you were going to try something like that instead!"

Too late, Jellal realized that Natsu had never thought he would fall for a trap like that. Using magic openly to strike Natsu's hidden location had given away his own – and his position was by far the most vulnerable right now.

There was a sudden burst of magic and a thunderous explosion from above, and the roof of the tunnel was collapsing in on him. Seething inwardly, Jellal hastily retraced his steps as he forced his exhausted magic to burst to life once again, allowing him to bypass all physical limitations of speed, narrowly escaping the cave-in. Only when the rockfall had settled down and the earth no longer shook did he rein in his power once again and allow his magical presence to return to its usual near-undetectable level.

Natsu's move had blocked the exit of the tunnel. There would be another way round, sure, and there was no guarantee that Natsu was even on the right path to finding the scales, but he _detested_ the thought of falling behind that boy.

He snapped a command and a magic circle larger than he was materialized in front of him, a channel to take his enormous power and focus it into a devastating form. Closing his eyes, he touched his palm to its surface. An intense beam of light, wide enough to fill the entire tunnel, blazed forth, disintegrating everything it touched.

There was no time to rest, not even as the exhaustion hit – his power may have cleared the cave-in, but it had only done further damage to the inside of the mountain in the process, and he found himself running for his life once again as the tunnel decided it didn't like its ceiling's new shape and would rather drop it on him.

Breaking out into the open, Jellal immediately began to follow Natsu's trail upwards. To his right, a rock wall too steep to climb rose up to the heavens. Where he stood, a ledge barely two feet wide made steady progress up the side of the cliff. And to his left, there was a chasm so deep that its bottom was lost in the evening shadows. Talk about dangerous – but then again, knowing Makarov, the fact that this was the deadliest path in the entire area meant that it was undoubtedly where the scales were hidden.

His suspicions were confirmed a minute later when he spotted a cave further along the path – from which a pink-haired Dragon Slayer was emerging. "Siegrain, look!" he shouted triumphantly, waving something above his head: the square blue-grey scale of some draconian beast. "Guess I got to the halfway point first!"

And with that, Natsu resumed his ascent up the mountain. Throwing caution to the wind, Jellal broke into a run after him – and he almost made it.

Almost.

He was still a few metres short of the cave containing the precious scales when Natsu reappeared at the top of the trail, and this time he was running full pelt back towards Jellal. Hot on his heels was an enormous boulder.

"Notthatwaynotthatwaynotthatway-!" Natsu breezed.

Jellal cast a longing glance at the cave entrance, but he was too far away; if he ran for it, Natsu and the boulder would hit him first. "You have _got_ to be kidding me," he muttered, settling into a steady stance and calling his tired magic yet again. He didn't _want_ to help Natsu, but he wanted to be flattened by a boulder even less.

A dozen streaks of light burst forth from his outstretched hand. They swerved aside at the last moment, missing Natsu by inches, and converged again to strike the boulder. The force nudged it sideways and over the cliff edge.

"Hey, thanks!" Natsu grinned.

And it would have been happy endings all around, if Natsu's next step hadn't happened to land on a loose patch of gravel, tripping him and sending him barrelling straight into his opponent. Jellal barely had time to swear before they were both falling over the edge of the cliff.

The only thing worse than plummeting to his death, Jellal decided, was doing so while being entangled with the annoying brat who was responsible for it. As they picked up speed, he kicked Natsu forcefully away from him and righted himself while still in life-threatening freefall. There were sheer rock faces on either side of him, hemming him in, and then the ground was right in front of him – and his magic kicked in with a few metres to go, its warm light wrapping around his body and slowing his fall at once. He landed on one foot with a ballet dancer's elegance, perfectly relaxed, as if he had merely stepped down from a podium.

By contrast, Natsu struck the ground only inches away from him with all the grace of a meteorite. Jellal hoped that the impact might at least have knocked the boy unconscious, but it seemed that fortune was having too much fun tormenting him to stop now. After a dazed moment, Natsu sprung to his feet with just as much energy as usual, brushing himself down and answering Jellal's furious glare with a sheepish grin. "Sorry! That was an accident!"

Jellal decided that a retort was beneath him. His position on the matter went without saying. He turned instead towards the sky in order to assess the situation. The ravine they had fallen into was deep and narrow – so much so that the sky was nothing more than a thin crack of indigo between two towering rock walls. It was dark down here, and unwelcoming; claustrophobic. For someone accustomed to having the whole limitless sky in which to fly and fight, its unpleasantness added insult to injury.

Then again, it wasn't as if he had to stay down here for a moment longer. He called upon the power that had not quite faded from his body and created a magic seal around his feet – only to be stopped a moment before he could launch himself back into the sky by Natsu's hand locking around his wrist.

The power radiating from his skin must have been burning the boy, but Natsu's grip didn't loosen, and he sounded just as cheerful as ever. "That's not you about to fly back to the top of the mountain, is it?"

"What's it to you?"

"I distinctly remember Gramps saying that all flying magic was forbidden for the duration of the road race."

"Well, he's not here, is he?"

"No. But _I_ am, and I'm sure he'd be more than happy to disqualify you after the fact if I told him what you'd done."

Narrowing his eyes, Jellal increased the intensity of the power blazing around his wrist, and this time, Natsu did release him. "Alternatively, I could bury you down here and fly around as much as I liked."

" _Or,_ " Natsu countered, "You could carry both of us out of the ravine, and then I'd have no reason to tell Gramps anything."

Jellal folded his arms. "Like hell I'm doing that."

"Looks like we're both going to be stuck down here, then." The boy gave another shrug, infuriatingly unperturbed by the situation.

With a growl, Jellal let the light around him die, plunging them both into darkness. "Not necessarily. As far as I see it, murdering you and rescuing myself is still very much on the table. No one would ever find your body down here."

It was a half-hearted threat at best – Jellal knew better than to jeopardize everything he had been working towards over the past eight years by snapping and murdering someone now – but he thought it deserved at least a sarcastic response, if not a genuinely apologetic one.

His words, however, had quite the opposite effect. Natsu clapped his hands together, his eyes gleaming in the shadows. "That's a _great_ idea! Since we're both stuck down here with literally nothing else to do, let's fight to see who is stronger!"

"Let's not."

"Oh, come on. There's no one around to watch so you don't need to be embarrassed about losing! I promise I won't tell anyone, even if I win. So, what do you say?" he added, with an irrepressible grin.

"Not interested."

"Why not? It's not like we have anything else to do!"

"Sure we do. You could help me find a way out of here, for starters."

"…Oh."

It was with some disappointment that Natsu seemed to realize how much sense that made. Logic won out; without another word the two of them split up to explore opposite ends of the chasm.

It didn't take long. There wasn't anything there to find. Their prison was nothing more than a great crack in the side of the mountain, a few metres wide and perhaps fifty in length, as if the earth had opened up to swallow them. It contained nothing more interesting than rock fragments and branches that had accumulated over time, along with the odd skeleton of some poor hapless creature which had fallen in and been unable to climb out. It wasn't a promising sign. Without flying magic, they weren't getting out of there any time soon.

Natsu had come to the same conclusion. When the boy's search had turned up a similar lack of any escape routes, he had taken to gathering branches instead, and was busy building a campfire to provide them with steady light and heat without constantly draining his magic. Jellal watched him critically, but didn't offer to help, and when Natsu collapsed contently in front of the fire, Jellal took up a position just outside the circle of firelight.

"Man, I'm exhausted," Natsu remarked, stretching out in the fire's warmth. "This race sure is tiring, huh? Hard to believe we're only at the halfway point."

Jellal gave a grunt of acknowledgement and hoped it would be enough to discourage the boy from talking to him.

It was not. "I wonder how long it'll be before anyone catches up with us," Natsu mused. "Maybe they'll be able to help us out of here."

"It would defeat the purpose of the competition somewhat if we all helped each other out, don't you think?"

"Not necessarily. Team tactics are important too. If there's something neither of you can do alone, it makes perfect sense to work together… like if two people are stuck at the bottom of a chasm and need to cooperate in order to get out," he added, with a grin.

"You can make all the snide comments you want. I am _not_ taking you out of here. And it certainly wouldn't count as cooperation when all the effort would come from my end anyway."

"So you'd rather admit defeat to Erza and the others?"

"There's no point complaining to me. The fact that we're both down here is entirely the result of _your_ clumsiness."

"Yeah, I know…" Natsu conceded. "Ah, well. It's not like we can do anything about it now. Might as well get some rest while we can, so that we're refreshed and ready to go for when we get out of here."

"What, just on the off-chance that the tectonic plates shift and open us a way out?"

"Either that, or you might stop being stubborn."

"…You'd better start praying for an earthquake."

"I am, don't worry."

Natsu grinned up at the sky, and the stars twinkled back down at him. Did _anything_ ever get to that boy? It was going to be a long night indeed if Jellal couldn't get him to shut up. Of all the people he could have been stuck down here with…

Closing his eyes, Jellal leaned back against the rock face and exhaled slowly. He was still worn out from overexerting his magic; at least he could make the most of a bad situation and get some rest, as Natsu's pointless chatter first merged into the background noise, and then vanished completely. Jellal wasn't the kind of man who would ever let his guard down around another human being – especially an enemy, even if said enemy didn't actually know that they were enemies yet – and that ruled out taking a nap while there was anyone else in the vicinity, but he could relax, just a little.

Of course, it took all of about a minute for Natsu to break the moment. Jellal's eyes snapped open the instant the boy got too close, and he growled, "What?"

Natsu was stood in front of him, holding something in his hand. He unwrapped the covering foil to reveal it as some sort of energy bar. A swift motion snapped it in two, and he held out half towards Jellal. "Want some?" he offered. "Mira recommended it before the race. She said it was good for keeping your strength up…"

"Don't want it."

The younger mage actually seemed disappointed by this rejection. "Suit yourself," he returned, wandering back over to the fire.

Jellal glared at him even more ferociously than normal. "Don't think you can win me over with pointless gestures like that. I'm not some wild animal you can tame with food."

"I was only trying to be nice. I'd feel bad being the only one eating. Who knows how long we're going to be stuck down here for? We might starve to death before anyone finds us."

"Speak for yourself. _I_ can get out of here any time I like."

"Yeah, yeah."

At least making Natsu eat the entire thing himself had the added benefit of shutting him up for a while. Jellal had no intention of breaking the rare silence. Instead, he closed his eyes yet again, listening to the sounds of nature – or what passed for it in these barren crags – as the wildlife bedded down for the night.

Presently there came another noise over the ambient rustling, and this time, it wasn't even Natsu being annoying: it was the sound of footsteps, echoing around the bottom of the chasm in which they were trapped. Two pounding rhythms ever so slightly out of phase with each other; two runners, competing. As the racers in question drew closer, he could identify their voices as they searched together for the scales: Gray, Erza. Their arrival at the correct cave was marked by shouts of jubilation, followed by the inevitable receding of footsteps, and then silence once more.

It was evident from the bleak look on Natsu's face that he too realized they had lost their lead, but when Jellal failed to even pretend to care, Natsu seemed to decide there was no point in pestering him again, and resumed his pensive poking of the fire.

A short while later, another set of footsteps announced Juvia's arrival and departure. "You know," Natsu began hopefully, "We could probably still catch up with the leaders if we left right now." Jellal did not even acknowledge this, forcing Natsu to sigh. "But, you know, sitting in the chasm is nice too."

Gajeel came and went. The thought of losing to another Dragon Slayer, especially one he seemed to have some sort of rivalry with, only further agitated Natsu, though he somehow managed to stay quiet.

It was the arrival of Lucy and Levy on the scene that proved to be the last straw. While the previous four competitors had been too intent on reaching their goal to notice the two mages trapped in the chasm, those girls were taking a far more relaxed attitude to this part of the race, and as such, when they spotted the faint glimmer of firelight emerging from the crack in the earth, they came over to investigate.

Two heads appeared as dark shapes against the starry night sky. The girls stared down at them for a long moment.

"…Well, that's not what I was expecting to see," Lucy remarked.

"Hey, Lucy! Hey, Levy!" Natsu greeted them.

Levy demanded, "What on earth are you two doing down there?"

"Camping," Jellal snapped back. "What does it look like we're doing?"

"Well, it looks an awful lot to me like you're stuck in a hole. Do you want some help?"

"No. Go away."

"Are you sure? We could probably find something to use as a rope…"

"We're fine. Leave us alone."

Natsu piped up, "Although, if we're still not back by the time the race finishes, could you maybe get a rescue party to come back and look for us?"

"No problem," Levy grinned. "Say, how long have you been down there? Do you know who's ahead of us?"

"A while," Natsu shrugged. "Long enough to have seen Erza, Gray, Gajeel and Juvia go past. Jet's probably finished already, though."

"…Actually, he hasn't," Lucy mumbled, somewhat apologetically.

"What do you mean?"

In contrast to Lucy's suddenly sheepish demeanour, Levy was beaming; Jellal was vividly reminded of just how devious that unassuming girl could be when she put her mind to it. "We ran into him while he was taking a nap in the forest."

She stopped there as if the rest of the story was obvious. It was up to Lucy to continue, with a sigh. "And rather than waking him up, politely reminding him of _The Hare and the Tortoise,_ and sending him on his way, like any responsible person would have done, Levy took the opportunity to tie him to a tree."

"But… isn't he your teammate?" Natsu demanded, aghast.

"Sure, but you have no idea how annoying he can be!" Levy retorted. "Everyone else in the guild works so hard for the road race, but every year Jet just rocks up and wins without any preparation or effort. It's not through skill, or tactics, or determination – his magic practically guarantees him victory every year, and no one else stands a chance, no matter how hard they try! I don't think it's fair that the Master banned Happy and Siegrain from flying when he's fine with Jet using his completely broken speed magic. Not to mention, every time he wins through the sheer fluke of just happening to have the right kind of magic, he doesn't shut up about it for weeks. So, I figured I'd take the chance to put him out of the race while I could."

Silence followed her gleeful pronouncement.

"You know," Lucy muttered, "Sometimes I don't feel safe teaming up with you."

"Nah, we've got this one sorted, Lucy," Levy breezed. "With Jet tied up, the Albrecht Bridge down, and these guys stuck in a hole, we might be able to place quite highly this year." She snapped her fingers. "Oh, and that reminds me. One of you lot needs to make sure I remember to go back and untie Jet once the race is over. I might forget otherwise. And by 'forget', I mean 'intentionally leave him there for a few days as a warning for next year's race'."

"Yeah, sure," Natsu replied, somewhat dazed.

"Well, if you really don't want any help, we'll be off," Levy informed them, and then the two girls were gone.

As the silence returned once again, Natsu glanced at Jellal and let out a deep, world-weary sigh. "Losing to Erza is one thing," he lamented. "But losing to _Lucy?_ Seriously?" When he received no consolation, he jumped to his feet, letting out a frustrated yell. "I can't take this any more! I'm getting out of this chasm, no matter what!"

And with that declaration, he threw himself at the cliff face. At first, he tried to progress by getting as long a run-up as their prison allowed and bouncing back and forth between the walls, but their slightly-too-wide separation, along with their tendency to crumble the moment his foot touched them, meant that he never managed more than three steps before gravity got the better of him.

After his fourth attempt failed, he bounced back to his feet, dusted himself down, ignored the mocking glint in the eyes of his single audience member, and changed tack. If there weren't sufficient handholds on the surface to climb it, he would simply make his own. Again, it was a plan that worked well initially – his impressive physical strength, combined with the destructive energy of his magic, allowed him to dent the rock quite comfortably.

Unfortunately, as he quickly realized, he couldn't make the impact needed to create more handholds while he was simultaneously clinging to a vertical wall for dear life. Following a good two minutes of hanging on a metre above the ground, trying to think of a way around this conundrum, he dropped back to the ground amidst a chorus of sniggers from his spectator.

"You can laugh all you want." Affronted, Natsu folded his arms. "It's not like you're getting any closer to escaping, is it?"

"If I thought it were possible to climb out of here, I'd have done it already. I certainly wouldn't still be in here with you."

"I guess." Conceding victory to the environment, Natsu abandoned his attempt to scale the walls and returned to sitting in front of the fire. "But you'd still choose being stuck in here with me over doing something to help me?"

" _You're_ the reason why we're stuck down here. Stop trying to make out that it's _my_ fault."

It was another petty retort, a half-hearted attempt to start a childish argument, but to his surprise Natsu didn't rise to the bait. Unusually solemn, the Dragon Slayer stared into the fire, and said, "Why do you dislike me so much?"

"…I beg your pardon?"

"I'm serious. Why do you dislike me?"

"Because you're annoying."

"No, I mean, seriously. There must be certain things I do that you hate, right? So maybe if you tell me what they are, I could do something about it."

"…What the hell is this about?"

"I want you to be happy."

Jellal shot him a look that was both outraged and disbelieving. "Are you even _listening_ to yourself?"

"No, hear me out, okay? Whenever I see you around the guild, you always seem so unhappy, like you're suffering. And sure, I get that. You're a councillor, and you're being forced to stay in Fairy Tail, so of course you're going to be unhappy. Not that I feel sorry for you there – you totally deserve this for perving on Erza, so I'm not sympathetic at all."

"I wasn't-" Jellal started, but what was the point? No one in this guild ever listened to him.

"But then sometimes you actually seem to cheer up a bit. Like when you and Erza were fighting together to save the guild, or when you were debating history with Levy, or at the start of the race today… it seemed like you were having fun."

"You couldn't be more wrong."

"I don't think I'm wrong at all," Natsu countered. "I think that somewhere beneath that whole 'I'm a member of the Magic Council so I have to hate Fairy Tail; it's practically in the job description' thing, you're the kind of person who belongs in a guild like this. If you could put aside the blackmail affair and just concentrate on making the most of your last fortnight in the guild, I think you could really enjoy being here."

Jellal said nothing; any response would have given that brat's stupid ideas a validation they didn't deserve. How could Natsu even say such ludicrous things with a straight face?

Regardless, Natsu persisted, "I know that Erza thinks so too, and Levy, and Mira, and everyone who has sort of got to know you over the past couple of weeks. I think that's why, out of all the things Gramps could have made you do with that lacrima footage, he wanted you to experience being in the guild for a few weeks. And Fairy Tail means so much to all of us that seeing someone really hate it day in, day out – it kinda hurts, you know? This guild is a great thing, and none of us really want to see someone else so upset because of it. So that's why I thought that if you told me what you didn't like about the guild, or about me, then maybe I could help to fix things, and perhaps you'd be able to smile more."

Jellal stared at Natsu for a long time. "You know," he said thoughtfully, "I genuinely can't tell if you're mocking me or hitting on me."

"Neither! Really, neither!" Natsu reiterated vehemently. "It's just… Well, maybe it's difficult to understand, if you're not a guild mage."

Again, Jellal said nothing for a while. He might have been sulking; he might have decided this conversation was a waste of his time; he might even have been asleep. Nothing broke the serenity in the shadows of the crags as he tried not to think and found himself failing at it; as he tried to be angry and found that it was simply too difficult.

Instead, he asked, "Why are you so obsessed with fighting me? You don't go around constantly bothering the other people in the guild, so why me?"

"Well, I don't have a choice, really." Natsu gave a slightly embarrassed laugh. "Gray will fight me any time, but Erza usually gets annoyed with us and intervenes, so that's not really an option. Erza won't fight me herself because she thinks it's childish. Then Mira doesn't fight any more full stop, and Laxus is never around nowadays… there's no one else strong in the guild that I can challenge, really."

"You're annoying me because there's no one else around for you to annoy? That's not an answer."

Natsu considered the matter seriously for a few minutes. "I want to fight you because you're strong; possibly even stronger than me. I think I'd learn a lot from fighting you. It would be a challenge, and overcoming challenges is the best way to make progress. I feel as though I could be stronger than I've ever been, having an opponent like you. It's all part of being in a guild – training, learning, even just getting to watch other mages go all-out… having something to aspire to. And I think it would be fun. Don't you?"

"No."

"You must have fought before, though. In the Council. I mean, probably not since you actually became a councillor, but before, when you just worked for them – you must have trained with colleagues, or Rune Knights, or something, right? Did you not have competitions or mock battles then?"

"Well, I guess so, but…"

"How is this any different?"

"It's different because I don't like you."

"But don't you think that, by fighting honestly and openly, we might come to know each other a bit better?"

"Why would I want to do that?"

"Oh, well, it's just with what Lucy was telling me about you and Erza, I thought you might want to get to know her friends a bit better, that's-"

" _What_ about me and Erza?" Jellal snapped so suddenly that the other looked at him in astonishment.

Concluding that Jellal was probably too embarrassed to talk about his feelings with someone he didn't know all that well, Natsu backtracked hastily. "Nothing, nothing. But I really do think that you could enjoy being here if you stopped feeling obliged to hate everything. Trying to be part of the guild doesn't make you any less of a councillor; it's just about making the most of all the opportunities that come your way! That's what it means to be a mage – that's what it means to be alive!"

Jellal had returned to saying nothing, so Natsu jumped to his feet and continued, excitedly, "So, what do you say? No one to watch, no one to interrupt, nothing else to do – want to fight?"

Jellal blinked at him. "What part of _no_ do you not understand?"

"…You're _still_ saying no?" Natsu demanded. "After I said all that?"

"I'm not going to change my mind just because you made a stupid little speech!"

Natsu grinned. "Aww, shame. You'd be surprised how often that works."

"Don't tell me people actually fall for that."

"Hey, I had a long discussion with Gajeel after we fought, and next thing you know, he's trying hard to get himself accepted as a genuine member of our guild. I'll take the credit for that one." Natsu gave a rueful smile. "I don't know, I just really feel as though if I punched you in the face while yelling something about freedom, I could genuinely get you to change your worldview."

"…Yes, I imagine it would go from 'laws are important, and as a councillor, I should definitely follow them' to 'if I hit him with a big enough meteor, there won't be a body left to find'."

Far from being intimidated, Natsu just laughed out loud. "Yeah, I guess you're right. It's a shame, though. This race was going to be a substitute for that fight you won't give me. If you won, then I was gonna call it your victory, and stop bothering you… but I guess neither of us will finish at this rate, so I'll just have to keep pestering you for that one-on-one fight…"

"Oh, so now you're threatening me?" Jellal shot back, unimpressed. "What is this, your one-man Good Cop Bad Cop routine?"

"I thought it was worth a shot," the other grinned. "I'm not gonna stop trying to convince you. If I can't fight you, then I'll keep talking until I can get through to you. I have all night. Of course, if we got out of here now, we'd have a good chance of catching up with the others and continuing the race, but if not… well, actually, it's kinda flattering to think that you'd rather listen to me talk about how great Fairy Tail is for the next, ooh, sixteen hours or so, than return to the race that you still might have a chance of winning…"

"You know," Jellal said shortly, "I really, _really_ hate you."

"Yeah, but you say that about everyone. Hating everyone and everything all the time must be really tiring. Why not just relax once in a while and let yourself have fun? If there's anywhere in the world where you're allowed to do that, it's in Fairy Tail."

The wind whistled eerily through the crags. Jellal glared at Natsu. Natsu gazed earnestly back.

And then Jellal said, "…Fine."

"Fine…?"

"Fine, we'll finish the race." Jellal stood up and stretched, concentrating on removing the growing stiffness from his muscles as an excuse to not have to make eye contact with Natsu. "I'll fly us both out of here, under the condition that if I beat you in the road race, you won't pester me again for as long as I'm in the guild. Understood?"

A broad grin stretched across Natsu's face. "Sure thing! And if I beat you, then…"

"It's irrelevant, because you won't. Come over here."

Natsu got up, doused the fire with a clap of his hands, and trotted over. "Careful, though. Gramps and Mira usually have lacrima flying around to check up on the competitors, and if they see us, he'll probably disqualify us both."

"I know. The last one passed over a few minutes ago; we should be fine. But, just to be on the safe side…" He held out his hand and Natsu took it, one cold wrist and one warm like the embers of the fire, locked together in a firm grip. Jellal found his magic and focussed it deep within his body; not showing off like usual but trying to avoid detection. "Ready?"

Natsu barely had time to nod before they were gone, racing upwards with an acceleration that made speaking impossible. It took a mere few seconds to reach the top of the chasm that had bound them for so long. Jellal's free hand found the ledge at the top of the cliff and he used his momentum to hurl Natsu up and over the top. He continued to hang there for a second or two, growling, before he gritted his teeth and dragged himself up and over.

Breathing heavily from the exertion, he lay sprawled on the ground. Hopefully, even if one of Makarov's lacrima had been watching them emerge from the ravine, there would be nothing in the footage that could prove they had flown rather than climbed.

There was a rustle of motion and Natsu was stood over him, offering his hand to help him up. "Truce," the boy smiled. "Until we catch up with the others."

"Fine, truce," Jellal agreed, and he let Natsu pull him to his feet.

"Great! I know the fastest way back to Magnolia. Follow me!"

* * *

 _ **A/N:** Huh. Even my tangents have tangents. Well, I guess for me the road race was always supposed to be about Jellal and Natsu; it just wasn't supposed to go on for quite so long. Jellal can be every bit as stubborn and childish as Natsu (at least at this stage of the game), and Natsu can be as serious and mature as Jellal when the need arises. They're not as dissimilar as Jellal likes to make out. I think there's a part of him that _really _wants to fight Natsu. He refuses him more out of pride - that sort of thing is supposed to be beneath him - than any other reason, and Natsu, being far more perceptive than Jellal gives him credit for, has realized this. Even though he'll never admit it out loud, I think Jellal will respect him a little more going forwards. They're cute. ~CS_


	14. Anything Goes

**Kidnapping Erza**

By CrimsonStarbird

* * *

 **Chapter Fourteen: Anything Goes**

"Welcome one and all to the closing stage of this year's Twenty-Four-Hour Endurance Road Race! If you're just waking up, then get yourselves out of bed and head down to the streets – it's a beautiful sunrise, and it promises to be a spectacular finish to the race this year! After an eventful afternoon and gruelling night, the breakaway group has been narrowed down to just eight competitors: Erza, Gray, Juvia, Gajeel, Lucy, Levy, Natsu, and Siegrain – and they're all neck and neck as they enter the city! Who will reach the goal first? There's still time to place a bet! The current odds are…"

Jellal blocked out the rest of Mira's commentary, just like he blocked out the surveillance lacrima trying to capture each moment from the best possible angle, or the crowds lining the streets, which had thickened considerably now that they had left the last of the country roads and entered Magnolia itself. The race – or, more precisely, the seven competitors still ahead of him – held his full attention. First place remained in flux, and in the free-for-all, anything could happen.

As if on cue, Natsu caught his eye and called, "Hey, Siegrain! We've made it to the city, so the truce is off now, right?"

"You bet it is."

"Heh." Without further warning, Natsu dropped into a crouch and spun round in a low kick, attempting to trip the other. Jellal was already gone. A single well-timed leap not only put him clear of Natsu's attack, but also allowed him to grab the sign of a tavern hanging above his head. He swung like a gymnast, propelling himself up into the air and landing on the building's roof.

While the other racers were struggling to find the shortest way through the crowds of spectators, Jellal had a clear run along the rooftops. He hurtled across the tiles with fearless agility and a catlike sense of balance. Reaching the end of the street, he threw himself unhesitatingly from the roof, not losing a fraction of his speed. For him, a fall from that height was nothing.

Well, it would have been nothing if he'd landed on solid ground.

Instead, he fell straight into the hay wagon which Natsu had neatly kicked into his path.

After a moment of spluttering and thrashing, Jellal surfaced from the mound, spitting out hay and glaring at Natsu. A move which might have been life-saving to a lesser man was a handicap to him, having stolen both his momentum and his elegance. As Natsu tore ahead of him, laughing gleefully, the hay wagon exploded in a burst of white light and Jellal set off in hot pursuit.

They hadn't gone more than a few paces when the nice paved road they had been running along suddenly turned into an ice rink. Jellal slipped and was sent spinning into Natsu; the two of them went down in a tangle of flailing limbs. Gray skated past, whistling nonchalantly.

"Not on my watch," Jellal scowled. Drawing upon his power, he slammed his fist into the ice floor, sending a giant crack racing through it. Rough earth ripped up the smooth surface Gray was trying to skate along, and this time, it was his turn to trip.

"Nice!" shouted Natsu. He leapfrogged over Jellal and charged down the path now open along the road. He underestimated Gray's speed, though. The Ice Make mage had already reshaped the ice into a wall that filled the width of the street – which Natsu promptly ran into face-first.

Staggering backwards, the Dragon Slayer's eyes narrowed. "Don't think you can stop me so easily. I'll melt your damn wall." In an instant, his entire body was cloaked in flames; the physical manifestation of that burning competitive spirit in his eyes. "Fire Dragon's Brilliant Fl- _eurgh_!"

"Brilliant Fleurgh? I haven't heard that one before," Jellal remarked, as he returned the water butt he had just emptied over Natsu's head back to its owner's garden.

Gray grinned. "Don't mind if I do." He snapped his fingers and the water soaking Natsu instantly froze, turning him into an ice statue. "You wait there for a bit, Natsu, while I deal with… oh." Upon realizing that Jellal had already disappeared, he let out a growl of annoyance, before dispelling the ice wall and sprinting off down the street.

Meanwhile, Jellal had dived into a side alley that was thankfully free of Fairy Tail mages. His lack of familiarity with the city put him at a disadvantage, but he knew which general direction the guildhall lay in, and if he could just get back up to the rooftops-

Lulled into a false sense of security by the apparent absence of any opponents, he didn't register the thin line of elastic pulled taut across the alley's exit. Perhaps he noticed the damp shirts and socks pegged to it and automatically assumed it was further away than it was, because clothes lines were normally hung between windows and drainpipes, not stretched at waist height across the road.

As the strain of the elastic brought his headlong charge to a stop, he caught a brief glance of a blonde girl gripping one end of the clothes line tightly with her heels dug into the ground, and a muscular bull-man holding the other end in place, and then the elastic potential won out and catapulted him back the way he had come. He caught a glimpse of Taurus helping Lucy to escape hastily over a nearby wall, but all thoughts of enacting revenge on the girl vanished as his headlong flight was brought to a sudden stop by something… or someone.

They went down in a ball of chaos and bounced back along the cobbles, finally coming to a stop. Fortunately for Jellal, the other person had cushioned his fall. Unfortunately for him, the one lying beneath him was Juvia, and she was not remotely pleased with this situation. She shouted something that might have been about how only Gray was allowed to get so close, or that might just have been a declaration of war, and then her fist connected solidly with his chin.

Jellal was flung against the wall with a painful crunch. By the time his head had stopped spinning and he had managed to stagger back to his feet, Juvia was long gone. With a silent curse, he glanced around the empty streets for some indication of where he should head next-

"Hey, Siegrain, catch."

Acting purely on instinct, Jellal wheeled around just in time to snatch the incoming missile out of the air before it could hit him.

Yet it was with some confusion that he regarded the object he was now holding. Rather than a weapon, it appeared to be a word, formed of solid, black, three-dimensional letters.

Four letters, in fact. Spelling out the word 'BOMB'.

Panicking, Jellal flung it away from him, at the same time employing his magic to propel himself as quickly as possible in the opposite direction. He escaped the blast radius by a hair's breadth and skidded to a stop further down the street.

"What the hell?" he yelled to Levy. "Are you trying to _kill_ me?"

"That's for being a pervert." She shot him a sweet smile, before turning tail and dashing off without giving him the chance to strike back.

"Oh, come on, that was obviously just an accident with Juvia!" he shouted at the girl's receding back. Not that it mattered; if not that, she'd undoubtedly have found some other excuse to justify throwing bombs at him. Jellal glanced at the smoking crater her magic had left in the middle of the street and sighed. At least now he had some concept of direction, and he set off down the road Levy had taken in the hope that she knew where she was going.

He was finally able to regain his bearings in the centre of the city. This was one of Magnolia's many canal routes, crisscrossed with bridges and flanked by terraced houses not too dissimilar from his own temporary abode. He took in the ordinary urban scene with a single sweep of his gaze. All he cared about was reaching his opponents before they got to the finish line – there!

Lucy emerged from around the side of a small boathouse next to the canal. She saw him at the same time he saw her, and they both froze.

Jellal didn't particularly want to fight, but he could hardly afford to ignore her. As she reached for the keys glittering at her belt, he caught sight of a pile of punts stacked up against the side of the boathouse, precariously held in place by twin ropes, and an idea came to him. An arc of light jumped from his palm and burnt through the ropes an instant before she could open the gate she needed.

Restraints gone, the stack of boats toppled straight into Lucy. There came an indignant yelp, followed by several splashes, and then the girl surfaced in the canal, spluttering, with her hair plastered to her face. She clung onto one of the upturned punts, shaking her fist at Jellal as she began to drift downstream.

Satisfied that she wasn't going to be getting in his way again any time soon, Jellal turned – only to find his path blocked by a grinning Natsu.

"I hope you're going to pay up for all those boats you just set loose, Mister Councillor," Natsu lectured him, and then, fully aware that there was no point in waiting for a reply, his fist burst into flame and he leapt straight towards Jellal.

Jellal was already running to meet him when he realized that a fight was exactly what Natsu wanted. Scowling, he broke off his charge and veered instead towards the nearest bridge, ignoring Natsu's howl of disappointment. Yet he wasn't more than halfway over the canal when he felt an inexplicable stab of danger. A flurry of iron spikes burst out of the ground at the other end of the bridge, blocking his way forwards. He skidded to a stop once again.

Jellal didn't recognize the feel of that magic, but there was only one person it could possibly have belonged to, and his suspicions were confirmed when he saw Gajeel striding towards him from the opposite bank. Trapped on the bridge with Gajeel in front and Natsu behind – should he fight? On one hand, he wanted to win… but on the other, he wanted to do it _properly_. He could win this race without needing to overpower anyone in a straight fight.

So rather than taking on either of the Dragon Slayers, he vaulted over the side of the bridge and landed atop one of the drifting punts. For one heart-stopping moment he thought it was going to capsize, but his luck held out and it stabilized, settling into a gentle rocking rhythm in the current's pull.

There was no time for complacency. Only a few metres away, Lucy had managed to clamber on top of her own boat, and was glowering at him like the vengeful ghost of some drowned witch. Even worse, she had managed to grab one of the punting poles that had fallen into the canal with the boats, which she now brandished towards him like a ten-foot sword.

Throwing caution to the wind, Jellal leapt across to the next boat as Lucy swung her pole, and its arc missed him by millimetres. He threw himself face-first into the bottom of his new punt in a desperate attempt to stop it from chucking him straight overboard – and it was a good job that he did, as Lucy's vigorous return swing sailed clean over his head.

While she grappled to bring her oversized weapon back under control, Jellal had an opening. He reached out across the water and his fingertips brushed one of the other drifting poles. On his second attempt he managed to seize it, and he rose triumphantly to his feet, weapon in hand, ready to begin round two of their bizarre water-based jousting match on a more even footing.

"…Uh oh…" observed Lucy.

Jellal swung his pole, she parried; and then the battle was immediately abandoned as both boats broke out into a frenzy of rocking, forcing them to divert all their attention towards balance if they didn't fancy a quick dip in the river.

Lucy watched unhappily as Jellal readied a second strike. "I didn't want to do this, since she'll probably wash me away as well," she remarked, tossing her punting pole back into the canal. "But at this rate, I'm going to end up in the river anyway, so… Aquarius!"

When the Spirit appeared, as irate at being summoned as usual, Lucy didn't offer a word of explanation. She just pointed somewhat apologetically at Jellal.

Aquarius turned to look at him, and her scowl vanished, to be replaced at once by something much worse: a sadistic smile. "Well, well, well. If it isn't Mr Pervert."

"Oh, not _again_ ," was all Jellal had time for, before an enormous tsunami was bearing down upon him.

The next thing he knew, the world was the wrong way up and something had swept him off his feet. He barely had time to register that he was still completely dry before he struck the pavement in an impact that drove all the breath from his lungs. Colours flashed in his vision, and then the red and black swirls slowly resolved themselves into what must have been a hallucination induced by oxygen deprivation.

No, this wasn't possible. Right now, he was drowning in that damn mermaid's tsunami. He couldn't possibly be lying flat on his back on solid ground, staring up at Erza.

He blinked at her, but rather than disappearing like the figment of his imagination that she was, Erza just offered him a small smile. "This is becoming quite a habit, isn't it?"

She was close. Far too close for this to be reality. She was kneeling over him, pinning him down undoubtedly without realizing it, one hand wrapped around his outstretched wrist and the other placed flat against his chest. Aquarius's tidal wave swept harmlessly by, carrying her hapless owner with it, but Jellal wasn't really paying attention to what was going on in the canal, because it was surprisingly hard to think about anything when Erza was suddenly so close.

There were a lot of metal plates which made up her Heaven's Wheel Armour, but most of them went into the four great wings with which she had been able to glide across the river and sweep him out of harm's way. There wasn't really all that much left to cover her body. Especially not the top half. In fact, from where he was lying, she might as well have not been wearing anything at all. He wondered if the appropriate thing to do in this situation was to knock her firmly away, as Juvia had done to him earlier – and then he wondered whether not doing so might make her stay like this for a little longer.

"Ah, I probably shouldn't have done that," Erza reflected ruefully. Framed by the rosy dawn sky and the inimitable scarlet of her hair, her sheepish smile was somehow even more radiant than usual. "You looked so terrified of the tsunami that I just acted without thinking. I ought to focus on the race. We are supposed to be opponents here, after all."

The next thing he knew, Jellal was alone. He was still lying on the cobbles; it didn't even occur to him to move. He could feel the lingering warmth of her hand on his skin. His heart was racing, probably from the adrenaline of his narrow escape with the tsunami. He hadn't been _terrified_ , he just… didn't get on well with water. Besides, he had clearly hit his head when he and Erza had struck the ground, because his thoughts were running exceptionally sluggishly – so much so that the sound of her footsteps had already faded into the distance before her parting words finally caught up with him.

"Crap, the race!" With that sudden exclamation, he sat bolt upright – or rather he tried to, only to find a force holding him back. Straining his neck, he caught a glimpse of a gleaming blade rising up out of the ground behind his shoulder: Erza's sword, carefully driven through the bunched-up material of his top and buried deep into the earth. A second sword pinned his other shoulder to the ground.

Damn. He _really_ should have noticed she was doing that. It was awfully unfair of her, taking advantage of his obvious concussion to trap him.

Unable to reach the hilts of either of the blades while he was so effectively pinned, he had no choice but to force himself upright with sheer strength, wincing at the sound of ripping material. Clothes resilient enough to withstand the forces employed by his magic didn't come cheap, and it was with some reluctance that he was forced to conclude his top was unsalvageable. Rather than have its torn strips flap around and hinder him, he decided it was best to just discard it completely, resolving to make Erza pay for a replacement the moment this goddamn race was over.

She and the two Dragon Slayers had disappeared from view. No doubt they were well ahead of him by now. Cursing, he broke into a run-

"Hey, Siegrain, catch."

He recognized Levy's nonchalant tones and felt a flash of anger. As if the same trick was going to work on him twice.

Ignoring the undoubtedly explosive projectile she hurled towards him, he dived to the side instead – and fell straight into the pitfall trap her 'HOLE' word had opened in the street. Buried up to his waist, and spluttering in outrage, he had no chance of dodging as the next word she wrote materialized as solid iron and came crashing down on his head.

"Ow!" he yelled. "What was that for?"

"Oh, no reason." Levy sauntered into his line of sight, completely at ease. "Hey, what happened to your shirt? Don't tell me you've started taking fashion tips from Gray."

"It wasn't my fault," he growled back. "Erza ripped it."

She scrutinized him intently, as if sizing him up, and then nodded in acceptance. "Huh. I have to hand it to that girl, finding opportunities even in a situation like this. Maybe she _does_ know what she's doing."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing. Nothing at all."

Unable to tell if she was teasing him or not – and deciding that meant she probably was – Jellal let out a frustrated growl. "Okay, that does it. I've had it with you."

The ground around him erupted in a burst of light. No longer imprisoned, he shot out from the heart of the explosion and pounced straight towards her. She tried to run, but she had stuck around for far too long this time, and he seized her by the back of the collar before she had taken more than a single step. She was so small and light; it was easy for him to lift her up with one hand.

She swung indignantly in his grip. "Hey, hey! Put me down!"

Jellal ignored her. His gaze fell upon a large wheelie bin and an evil light shone in his eyes.

"Hey!" Levy yelled again, guessing his intentions. "Don't you dare _don't you_ _dare_ -!"

He dared. He lifted the lid of the bin with one hand, deposited the girl inside, and slammed the lid firmly shut. Whistling to himself, he dragged the bin away from the wall and gave it a push in the direction of the slope. As it began to roll down the street, picking up speed, he couldn't stop a grin from stretching across his face. Ah, revenge was sweet.

Oops. He had been distracted again. At this rate, he wouldn't have a chance of catching the others.

At least he knew the way from here. He set off at a run, as if he didn't feel the exhaustion of having been going for the best part of a day already. His feet were light on the ground. Magic sang in his veins, sending energy coursing through his body far more efficiently than respiration.

The clatter of tarmac beneath his feet became the crunch of dry soil as he entered Magnolia's central park. The gardens offered a shortcut, and once out the other side, it would be a straight run up the road to the guildhall. That was where the victor would be crowned.

Jellal crested a hill and there it was: the final straight, and beyond it, the finish line. It was still too far away to be visible, but he knew it was there nonetheless; he could feel the energy and excitement of the crowd vibrating in the air. The hill he stood atop, though insignificant compared to the height of the hill from which he had summoned a meteor at the start of the race, marked the heart of Magnolia's park; its steep grassy slope led to the wrought-iron gates separating the park from the town, and then their goal.

But even as he saw the remaining competitors – Natsu, Gray, Erza and Gajeel – tearing down the hill in a desperate final rush, and felt his heartbeat intensify at the realization that no one had finished yet, he couldn't fight off a growing despair. They were too far away for him to catch in a straight race, and there were no obstacles between here and the finish line that he could make use of. There was no way he could stop them. He had come this far, actually _tried_ in this stupid pointless guild event, and he hadn't been able to win.

"It's not over yet!"

He started at the unexpected shout. Juvia was stood next to him on the hill's summit, though she wasn't paying him any attention; she had spoken simply to motivate herself. Where he had been about to admit defeat, she was only getting started. Determination radiated from her like magic as she knelt down in the grass and placed both her palms flat against the earth.

He felt it, then – a power spiralling out from her, far stronger than he had known she possessed. A ripple passed through the earth, and it wasn't a trick of the light or a shimmering haze of magic but an actual undulation of groundwater, emanating from her hands and cascading down the side of the hill. What started as a ripple became a flow and then an all-out mud slide; waves of disaster sweeping towards the other racers and leaving a swamp in their wake.

Just like that, the nature of the game changed. The clear run down the hill to the end had become the biggest obstacle yet. And Jellal was not about to pass up this opportunity.

He knew better than to try running along that flowing surface of mud, but that didn't mean there was no way forward. After as long a run-up as he dared, he flung himself off the crest of the hill, sailing over several feet of roiling earth and landing on top of a bench. Even as that dipped alarmingly, its firm fixtures yielding to the water saturating the ground, he didn't hesitate; two paces brought him to its other end and he jumped again. This time his foot found purchase on the plinth of a statue. His hand gripped a cherub's wing for balance and then he was gone again, seconds before the weakened earth caused it to tilt alarmingly to the side.

Another bench. The roof of a bandstand. An upturned wheelbarrow, dragged along by the flow. Light, fast, free, he ran like he had never run before; fierce exhilaration and the refusal to give up rekindled within him. Right in front of him stood an empty children's playground, standing valiantly against the turbulent earth. He landed atop one of the swings, gripping the chains tightly for balance as it rocked back and forth – and then he seized control of the motion, swinging forwards and making the leap from the summit of its arc.

His hands caught the monkey bars and he swung himself up in one smooth motion to stand on top of them. With perfect balance, he bounded along them and then careened down a slide, not caring who was watching, not caring that this wasn't appropriate behaviour for a member of the Magic Council, not even caring that it wasn't appropriate behaviour for a man who was about to end the world – he cared about nothing except the desire to run faster and faster and to win _._

His momentum launched him into the air and this time, when he landed on top of yet another bench, he seized hold of the backrest to halt his headlong flight. A burst of light from his hand shattered its already-strained legs and the bench tore free of the ground, carried along by the unstoppable mud flow. As they picked up speed, he and his impromptu raft hurtling down the side of the hill, he couldn't help letting out a shout of joy.

Not everyone had been able to deal with the sudden change in racing conditions as well as he. Being at the back with Juvia had given him the twin advantages of vision and height. By the time his opponents realized the danger, they were too low down the hill, and the waves were carrying far too much momentum, for them to be able to react as he had. Gajeel had suffered the worst – not only was his magic poorly suited for dealing with swamps, but Natsu had seized the opportunity to get one up on his fellow Dragon Slayer. The moment Gajeel's weight had caused him to sink into the mud, Natsu had used a burst of flames to dry the ground in an instant, trapping Gajeel up to his knees in baked earth.

Natsu himself, along with Gray, was struggling to maintain his pace through the boggy terrain, and Jellal was quickly gaining. Just ahead of him, Juvia was riding another wave of mud towards the boys. Erza, meanwhile, had realized that she needed height like Jellal if she wanted to stay in control of the race, and had taken a slight detour to climb onto the roof of an ice cream van, and from there to the crest of the wave. Now, a shield made of the finest adamantine money could buy was serving as her surfboard as she skimmed down the hill. She didn't have the speed he did, though, and he was rapidly gaining.

Jellal was so focussed on trying to catch up with Erza that he didn't notice the cannonball of ice until it was almost too late. He jerked aside at the last moment, and the impact that should have knocked him straight off his improvised raft caught his right shoulder a glancing blow instead, throwing him against the backrest of the bench.

His attention switched at once to the opponents ahead of him as he dragged himself back into a stable crouch. Having realized that they weren't going to be able to outrun him on this terrain, it seemed as though the boys had decided they would rather stand and fight. Natsu was trying to slow down Erza, while Gray targeted Jellal with a vengeful fixation.

Well, that was fine by him. With his left hand still gripping the back of the bench for balance, it was a simple matter for Jellal to disintegrate Gray's next missile in mid-flight with a beam of light from his free palm, and then they were too close to continue the ranged battle. Growling, Gray changed tactics, attempting to freeze Jellal's bench in place. Jellal swung aside at the last minute, and Gray's magic struck the mud wave instead.

That was a mistake.

All the water in the wave froze at once. Rather than riding along a fluid wave crest, Jellal was now hurtling down a very static ice ramp, and then he wasn't riding along anything at all as he and his bench were launched into the sky.

To Jellal's good fortune, fighting in mid-air was something he happened to be exceptionally good at. Makarov may have banned flying magic, but he hadn't said anything about flying benches, and this twist of fate had given Jellal back his strongest weapon. As gravity got the better of his bench's inertia, Jellal slid from the seat, seized it by its legs, weightless in freefall, and spun to bring it down like a giant's hammer against the side of Gray's head.

Jellal couldn't help wincing at the crunch – and then the poor ice mage was flying through the air. Gray landed with a splash in the boating lake and didn't reappear.

As Jellal drew upon the inhuman strength of his magic to flip over in mid-air and land back atop his trusty bench, now carried along upside-down by the mud slide, he couldn't help grinning. That was good enough; Gray wouldn't be able to contest first place from that far back. Even better, Juvia had dashed in the direction of the boating lake too, forfeiting her place in the battle for first in order to make sure that Gray hadn't been knocked out by the blow and was now drowning.

Then all thoughts of what was going on in the parks disappeared from Jellal's mind as he reached the bottom of the hill, slid along the footpath, and burst through the great iron gates separating the parks from the town. The mud slide weakened considerably upon reaching level ground, and it quickly petered out on the tarmac. He jumped from the bench as soon as it began to slow and hit the ground running.

Natsu was to his left. Erza was to his right. In front of the three of them lay the final stretch of open road and the sun rising above an inflatable arch outside the guildhall: their goal.

Erza caught his eye and smiled. The dawn set her hair alight with brilliant flame, and just for a moment it was difficult to think about anything except her.

"Time for my secret weapon!" she announced, and her body disappeared into the golden glow of Requip.

Combat instincts took over; Jellal drew his magic to him in preparation for whatever she might have been about to throw at him and Natsu.

He needn't have bothered.

Erza hadn't switched back to her gym clothes. She hadn't even switched to one of her majestic armours.

No, all the warning in the world couldn't have prepared him for the sight of Erza appearing in a bright pink full-body teddy bear costume.

Jellal did a double-take and almost tripped over; from behind, he heard Natsu's strangled choke putting his own feeling of disbelief into words. If Erza's secret weapon was the element of surprise, then he had to hand it to her. Binding speed magic to such an unsuspecting costume might just give her the edge she needed to win.

Yet she wasn't pulling ahead of them. In fact, under the cumbersome weight of the costume, the pink teddy bear was suddenly struggling to keep up. Jellal blinked at her in utter confusion. "Erza, what on earth are you wearing?"

Despite being muffled by the inside of the bear's head, her voice was just as lively as ever. "Oh, this? This is my secret weapon. People who wear these costumes succeed in marathons all the time."

"…When they're trying to raise money, Erza. Not when they're trying to win."

"Nonsense. This is definitely appropriate attire for such a fun guild event."

"But…" He gave up. Giant teddy bear costumes repelled logic like arrows against a dragon's scales; there was no point in fighting it.

Shaking his head in disbelief, Jellal pressed onwards. The bear's head completely concealed the secret smile on Erza's face as she slowed to a jog and let the other two pull ahead; Jellal and Natsu competing side by side.

It was a lot easier for Jellal to focus when Erza was hidden from his sight by a ridiculous costume. He barely noticed Natsu sprinting at his side with everything he had. He certainly didn't notice the thickening crowds on either side of the street, or the roaring cheers, or the intensity of Mira's commentary as she hung onto every move made by the two of them. He saw only the unbroken ribbon stretched across the finish line, and the thrill left him suddenly light-headed: _he could actually win this._

He was not going to lose to Natsu. He was not going to lose to _anyone_ in this goddamn guild. His heart was pounding in his chest, trying to keep pace with the magic pulsing through his veins; pushing harder than he ever had before, and running still faster; the cobblestones flew by beneath his feet. There was a deep burning within him and a pain that his power couldn't quite suppress, and he knew that he had gone too far again-

But it was _nothing_ ; he would endure far worse if he could only stay ahead of Natsu for another ten metres-

Another five metres-

The final dive-

And he did. Somehow, he did it; somehow, he was still on his feet when he felt the ribbon of victory pressing against his chest, and Natsu's frustrated yell confirmed that the boy was still a few inches behind him.

He had won.

The crowd was roaring in jubilation, and it was all for him. Perhaps for the first time since being dragged into this stupid guild, he was seized by sheer joy; the elation of a well-deserved victory. Light-headed, ecstatic, he spun round with his arms outstretched, and the cheering of the crowd and the sound of fireworks and Mira loudly declaring him the victor and the cool wind's touch upon his feverish skin and the proud power bursting with him – those things were his confirmation. Right then, right there, there was nowhere in the world he would rather have been.

Natsu lay spread-eagled on his back, staring wistfully up at the sky. When his heavy panting had died down enough to let him speak, it was with a little regret, but mostly with admiration.

"So close!" he gasped. " _So close!_ A full day of running and I lost by _that_ much!" His hand, raised against the cloudless blue, marked out the only-slightly-exaggerated couple of inches that he had lost by. "Damn it!"

He let his hand fall back to the ground with a thump. "Well," he added, with a rueful grin, "A deal's a deal. You beat me fair and square, Siegrain, so for the time being I'll concede victory to you."

"Glad we finally got that one settled," Jellal remarked, though the smugness of it was somewhat undermined when his legs decided they had had enough of supporting his weight today. He collapsed sideways – straight into the arms of a candy-floss-coloured six-foot teddy bear.

"Take it easy," Erza instructed, helping to hold him upright with oversized paws.

He glanced up at her black button eyes weakly. "Erza," he said. " _Please_ take off the costume."

"No," she rebuffed him. "I like it."

"…I give up," Jellal sighed.

Shirtless, splattered with mud, and unable to stand without the help of a comedy mascot bear – he was hardly projecting the image of a victorious competitor. Taking a deep breath, he steadied himself against the bear's fuzzy arm and tried to stand on his own.

He managed it for a second or two – until a certain girl ran up to him and kicked him in the shins. "Ow!" he yelped, hopping around on his other leg and flailing his arms for balance.

"That was for dumping me in a wheelie bin," Levy scowled at him, her hands on her hips. "And consider yourself lucky it was empty, or you'd have had a lot worse coming to you." Then her stern look relented, and she gave his arm a friendly pat. "Congratulations on your victory, by the way. You deserved it." And then she was gone.

"…I do not understand that girl," Jellal stated, somewhat unnecessarily. Erza looked at him, and it might have been in solidarity or it might have been in judgement, but he would never know, because the bear's face only had one expression.

Other competitors were beginning to cross the line. Having finally managed to extract himself from the baked earth, Gajeel reached the goal in time to claim a solid fifth place behind Levy. Lucy, soaking wet and shivering, had avoided being drowned by Aquarius and dragged herself over the line in sixth in an impressive display of resolve. She was currently stood as close as possible to Natsu, who was obediently producing an orb of fire around his fist to help dry out her clothes. And finally, Juvia was helping a slightly concussed and equally soaked Gray across the line to take seventh and eighth place.

There was no sign of anyone else; doubtless, it would be another few hours before the next racer arrived at the goal.

Mira was there too, of course, and she put down her commentator's microphone in order to congratulate Jellal in person. "Nicely done," she smiled at him. "That's the closest finish we've had in as long as I can remember."

"Thanks," he said awkwardly.

"Now, if only you'd managed to pull it off without destroying a vital piece of infrastructure in the process…"

Jellal folded his arms. "You have _no_ proof that was me."

"Quite so," she replied, and laughed in genuine mirth.

" _Ahem._ " Silence fell immediately – the sort of silence that only the Guild Master's authority could bring to this rabble of a guild. Makarov approached the group of finishers slowly, and with great solemnity. "Congratulations, all of you. That was an excellent race. Surely, it will go down in the annals of our guild's history as the most exciting conclusion yet to Fairy Tail's yearly race."

He turned to Jellal and added, "And I'm sure you'll all join me in congratulating Councillor Siegrain on a well-earned victory."

"See?" Jellal smirked. "You and your guild can throw as many stupid challenges at me as you like. I'll overcome them all."

"Yes, that does seem to be the case, doesn't it?" Makarov said lightly.

At once, Jellal's triumphant mood took a nosedive. The old man was giving in far too easily. Was that a crafty spark in the Guild Master's eye? Would he never be free of that man's scheming?

His suspicions were only deepened when Makarov clapped his hands together enthusiastically. "Now, before we can begin giving out the prizes, there remains one last order of business. If you'd all like to pass your scales to Mira for validation, then we can officially declare the road race complete."

"Eh?" Jellal blinked.

"You know," Makarov continued, not at all innocently. "The scales you were all instructed to pick up at the mountain as proof that you'd completed the full course."

"…Ah."

Instantly, the eyes of everyone in the group were upon him. "Ohhh, Siegrain," Natsu began. "Don't tell me you didn't…"

"So what if I was too busy _saving you from that boulder_ to pick up a stupid scale?" Jellal snapped at him. "I obviously went to the crags and back. Lucy and Levy will vouch for me even if you won't; they saw us both there!"

"I hate to say it, Siegrain, but it doesn't really work like that," Mira pointed out. Was that an apologetic smile on her face, or was it a scheming one? It was surprisingly difficult to tell with her, and it wasn't helping his mood one bit. "It won't be fair on everyone else if we bend the rules just for you."

"You said it," agreed Makarov. "In fact, by the official rules of the road race, I do believe that this calls for instant disqualification."

"…What?"

"In other words, you automatically come last. And that means you have to face the special punishment."

"But I won your goddamn race!" Jellal protested.

"Unfortunately, no, you didn't. Rules are rules."

Was there any way he could get out of this? Probably not. Jellal was furious inside, absolutely furious, but for the first time it was directed towards himself rather than the old man in front of him.

This was completely his fault. There had been a moment when he had forgotten how frustrating this accursed guild was; when he had been so caught up in the competition that he hadn't paid proper attention to his actions… perhaps this was exactly what his foolishness deserved.

"Fine, whatever," he growled.

Makarov nodded approvingly. "Glad to hear it. Now, the special punishment for last place in the road race has traditionally been a photoshoot in the Weekly Sorcerer…"

Lucy interjected, "That sounds surprisingly not too bad."

"…That is, a crossdressing glamour photoshoot," the old man clarified. He pointed at the aghast councillor. "In other words, you will be dressing up in traditional women's clothing and promoting Fairy Tail in a national magazine."

Jellal stared at him. "Are you out of your mind?" he exploded. "No way in hell am I doing something like that!"

"All the rules of the guild, remember?" Makarov shrugged. "Either comply with the punishment, or a certain little lacrima will be heading to the Council Headquarters on express delivery this very afternoon."

"I'm starting to think that might be the better option," Jellal retorted, though there was an icy look in his eye that suggested his preference was in fact for option number three: murdering everyone in the guild and thus not having to go through with their ridiculous stunts.

Perhaps it was fortunate that, before a fight between two Wizard Saints could break out in the middle of the city, Natsu declared, suddenly and inexplicably, "Wait!"

Without offering a word of explanation, the boy turned on his heel and dashed into a side alley. There came the sound of something smashing, the yelp of a startled cat, and more running footsteps, and then he re-emerged, grinning broadly.

"I also didn't pick up a scale," Natsu declared to his Guild Master, holding up his empty hands. "So I guess me and Siegrain tie for last place, right?"

Jellal cut in before Makarov could. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Owning up to my mistake," Natsu lied buoyantly.

"…You blatantly just went and smashed your scale."

"Did anyone see me smash it? Then no, you can't prove anything."

"I saw you pick one up on the mountain!"

"Well then, it must have fallen out of my pocket when you were saving me from that boulder _,_ " Natsu grinned back.

"What…?"

But Jellal's response was cut off by a flash of magic from beside him. Erza Requipped her scale into one hand, and a sword into the other, before tossing the former into the air – and then they were all treated to the surreal display of a six-foot teddy bear smashing a wyvern scale into a hundred pieces with a single strike.

"Oops," Erza offered, only marginally less subtle than Natsu. "That was an accident."

"What are you playing at?" Jellal demanded.

The teddy bear tried to do a peevish shrug, but its head only really did cute. "I think Natsu has the right idea. If you did the photoshoot on your own, it would be pretty cataclysmic for your career as a councillor, right? But if a group of us do it, it's not embarrassing – it's just a bunch of Fairy Tail mages having a bit of fun in order to promote the guild. Nothing unusual there."

Eyeing her warily, Gray clutched his own scale in both hands, as if to reassure himself that he still had it. "You two are crazy. Don't think you'll be getting me to join in with this stupid scheme," he scowled, thus providing Juvia with the perfect ironic moment in which to snatch it out of his hands and toss it into the canal. "Juvia!" he exclaimed in horror.

"Juvia doesn't want to hurt Gray," she said calmly. "But on the other hand, Juvia really _does_ want to see him do the photoshoot."

"…Juvia, you traitor."

"Juvia is very sorry. Juvia will repent by joining in too." She threw her own scale to join his at the bottom of the canal, though she didn't seem all that upset about it, adding under her breath, "That way she'll get a front row seat to look at Gray…"

"Sounds like fun," Levy piped up, dropping her scale to the ground and snapping it in two with a swift stamp of her heel. "Hey, if there's a big group of us, we can do a fun mixed gender theme, like maids and butlers!"

Jellal's ferocious glare turned upon her. "I'm a member of the Magic Council. I am _not_ dressing up like someone's butler."

"No, no, you're missing the point. The whole idea of the photoshoot is to subvert traditional gender stereotypes."

"…What?"

"You'll be wearing a maid outfit."

"Don't worry," Erza reassured him, patting his shoulder. "You can borrow one of mine."

"…I don't know what's worse," Jellal observed despondently. "The fact that you're encouraging them, or the implication that you own more than one maid outfit."

"You never know when they'll come in handy. It's a good job I invested in them, really, isn't it?"

Jellal was too overcome with despair to even respond to that.

By contrast, despite the fact that they had all just voluntarily signed up to the same nightmarish fate as him, the rest of the Fairy Tail mages were in as good a mood as ever. Natsu was grappling with Gajeel in an attempt to steal his scale and force him to join in. Lucy was holding hers at arm's length, her eyes screwed shut, trying to muster up the courage to throw it away. Makarov was complaining that they weren't supposed to _enjoy_ the punishment; it ruined his fun.

Even Mira had announced her intention to join in with the photoshoot, and she hadn't even been racing in the first place. When Jellal pointed this out to her, she informed him that she did this sort of thing all the time, and if she took part she'd be able to use her contacts in the business to get them a top-class photographer and guaranteed front page coverage. That was pretty much the last thing Jellal wanted, but she, like the rest of them, wasn't taking no for an answer – just as they refused to accept defeat as an option or despair as a valid outlook on life.

And it was impossible to remain angry around them.

Impossible, even, to remain upset.

That was, until Natsu finally succeeded in smashing Gajeel's scale and withdrew from the melee, triumphant, to stand at Jellal's side. "What do you think, huh, Siegrain?"

Then it was easy for Jellal to revert to his usual scowl. "I don't know why you're looking so smug. I didn't _ask_ for your help."

"But that's the great thing about being in a guild," Natsu smiled. "You don't ever need to ask."

* * *

 _ **A/N:** The worst thing about writing something like this is that you just want all the characters to win. And you feel like they all deserve to win, too. But I think that them all tying for last place is the next best thing. Hehe. Thanks for reading as always, and I hope you had as much fun reading this one as I did writing it! ~CS_


	15. Restless Heart

**Kidnapping Erza**

By CrimsonStarbird

* * *

 **Chapter Fifteen: Restless Heart**

When Jellal finally made it back to the privacy of his flat, and was free to collapse, utterly drained, onto what passed for a bed in this place, he called Ultear. He figured he might as well get all the bad jobs out of the way on one day.

She obviously wanted to talk to him about as much as he did her, answering tersely, "This'd better be important, Jellal. I'm very busy."

"Well, stop being busy. I need you to do me a favour."

"…And what would that be?"

"I need you to fix something with Time Arc."

"Fix what, exactly?"

"A, uh… a bridge."

He did not like the icy silence that followed those words. It was at times like this that he was glad she was a very long way away.

When she spoke again, it was with deliberate slowness, as if she already knew what his answer was going to be. "And which bridge would that be?"

He closed his eyes. "The Albrecht Bridge."

"THAT WAS _YOU?_ " she exploded. Wincing, Jellal wished there was some way of turning down the volume of these telepathic communications. "So I'm here working overtime with the Council in chaos because a major trading route was destroyed in what might have been a natural disaster but might, just _might_ , have been a terrorist attack – and you have the nerve to call me up like it's nothing and demand that I just go and fix it for you?"

"…Pretty much."

"JELLAL-!"

Her furious shout dissolved into a mass of static crackling. Jellal wondered idly if there was some sort of safety cut-off in the telepathy magic that had kicked in to stop his head from exploding.

Somehow restraining herself to a low hiss this time, Ultear continued, "What are you playing at? If the Chairman discovers that you're the one responsible for this, you can say goodbye to your seat on the Council!"

"Yeah, which is precisely why I'm asking you to fix it for me before he finds out."

"Jellal, you can't take risks like this and assume I'm just going to sort everything out for you when it goes wrong!"

"Oh, come on. It'll take you like ten seconds to restore the bridge with Time Arc; what's the problem?"

"It's the principle of the thing!" she yelled. "You _can't_ just do things that are going to jeopardize your relationship with the Council! We are so close to completing the plan, Jellal! _So close!_ You've been careful for eight years; why are you acting so thoughtlessly now?"

Jellal mumbled something that clearly wasn't evasive enough, because rather than dropping the subject, Ultear persisted, in a tone that sent a shiver down his spine, "Jellal, if this has anything to do with Fairy Tail's road race…"

"Of course it doesn't. Don't be ridiculous. I wouldn't destroy a vital piece of infrastructure just to win a stupid race." And then, before she could call him out on it, he added, "Just out of interest, you don't read the Weekly Sorcerer, do you?"

The sudden change of topic caught her off-guard. "No, why?"

"No reason."

" _Jellal_ …" That low growl promised him hell the next time they met in person.

"You know," Jellal reflected, somewhat wistfully, "I remember a time when you actually used to do what I said without complaining…"

"Yes," she replied, curtly; dangerously. "I remember that time too. I followed you because I admired you. I really believed that you were the one who was going to make this dream we shared a reality. Building the Tower of Heaven, infiltrating the Council, becoming a Wizard Saint – no one in the world could have done that but you. That man, that amazing man who somehow managed to pull all that off – he's the one I swore I would do anything for.

"But now? The Tower has been complete for over two weeks, and not only have you failed to activate it, but you're regularly pulling stunts like this which could ruin everything we've been working towards. This new attitude of yours is threatening both of our futures. And you're too busy having fun playing at being a Fairy Tail mage to notice."

"It's not like that!" he protested. "I'm trying- It's not as easy as you'd-"

She overrode him with a voice like ice. "I'll fix your damn bridge, Jellal. But this is the last time I'm going to help you. If you screw up like this again, you're on your own. Next time you call me, it'd better be with good news about Erza."

And with that, she terminated their mental connection.

For the next few minutes, Jellal stared at the wall in silence. He wondered if he was supposed to be angry.

Ultear had never acted so brazenly around him before. Sure, they were partners in crime, but it had never been an equal partnership; the Tower and the scheme were both his, and _she_ was supposed to be doing _his_ bidding. This rebellious, disrespectful streak of hers – which he was certain had started after his first failed kidnapping attempt – was new. Yes, it was understandable that she would be annoyed when things weren't going as planned, but it didn't give her the right to talk back to him, let alone to actually threaten him. He should be angry with her. He knew he should.

Instead, he lay down on the battered old sofa and raised his left hand to the ceiling. Even in the summer evening's half-light, his Fairy Tail mark was clearly visible, stark blue against his pale skin. It wasn't merely a symbol on his hand. It was a cruel physical reminder of the helpless situation in which he was imprisoned – an impenetrable barrier between him and the power to end the world.

"Fun, playing at being a Fairy Tail mage?" he echoed.

It wasn't like that at all. There was nothing worse than having to interact with Fairy Tail mages every day and follow all the completely arbitrary rules that Makarov came up with. He had every intention of getting the guild closed down as soon as possible – and even that would be through sheer spite, since the guild's existence would become irrelevant once the apocalypse began. He wanted the satisfaction of getting his revenge on Fairy Tail as Councillor Siegrain first. That was far more personal than his ultimate conquest would be.

But…

Running in the road race; competing against his colleagues; battles with genuine danger – these challenges were completely different to the struggles of maintaining the secrecy of the Tower of Heaven and manipulating the Magic Council from within. They weren't fun, exactly, but they were… somehow appealing.

There had been a time when his own life hadn't been too unlike that of a guild mage, at least on the surface. When he had first left the Tower with the intention of infiltrating the Council, his day-to-day activities in their service had brought the same kind of challenges that Fairy Tail faced on a daily basis, and he had embraced them on the path to becoming a Wizard Saint and a councillor. Ever since then, he had been so obsessed with shoring up his political power that there hadn't been any time for such trivial things.

Back when they had been trapped in the ravine, Natsu had asked him if he'd fought other Council mages in training before he officially became a councillor – and the boy had been right, of course, but before he'd mentioned it, Jellal had forgotten he'd ever done things like that. One couldn't become as good as he was without training with and learning from others, whether they were fellow Council mages, old Rune Knight veterans, or the dark mages with whom he traded magical knowledge and expertise. When had he stopped taking on challenges like that? When had that simple and pure excitement ceased to be a part of his everyday life?

Of course, what he wanted more than anything right now was to be in the Tower of Heaven with Erza, there to sacrifice her and achieve his ultimate dream.

But failing that, out of being stuck in the Council or being here in this guild… he'd probably rather be here.

Crap.

Ultear was right, wasn't she?

There had been any number of opportunities to kidnap Erza during the race. The camera lacrima followed a highly predictable pattern, trivial for him to exploit, so that was no excuse. All he would have needed to do was set a trap for Erza at the midpoint of the race, when all the competitors were spread out and preoccupied with finding the fastest route home, and he'd have had at least twelve hours to execute his plan before anyone could confirm that she was missing. Even then, if they had somehow seen him flee and followed him to the Tower, they'd be far too exhausted from the race to pose a threat to him and his servants.

But it hadn't even occurred to him. He had been so caught up in winning some idiotic sporting event that he had passed up the perfect chance to get his sacrifice to the Tower.

Jellal let his hand fall back to his side with a soft thump. "No wonder Ultear's pissed off with me," he told the ceiling ruefully. "This time, it really is my fault."

Closing his eyes, he exhaled slowly and listened to the sounds of the never-ending traffic outside his window. "No more playing around," he vowed to himself. "Tomorrow, I'll kidnap Erza for sure."

* * *

Resolve was all well and good, but there were some obstacles that it simply could not overcome.

Jellal was well-rested, and ready to defeat Erza in combat. He had reaffirmed his conviction to sacrifice her to the Tower of Heaven. He had gone to the guild that morning with the sole intention of kidnapping her. He was prepared; excited; steadfast in his path.

Yet all the resolve in the world could not change the fact that he had arrived at the guild bright and early, and Erza had not.

And so the would-be kidnapper found himself in the middle of a raucous guildhall with no one to kidnap. Minutes passed, and then hours, and then lunchtime came and went and there was still no sign of her. Jellal sat alone and restless in the guildhall and glared daggers at anyone who dared to ask if he was alright, but no amount of sulking could fix this situation. Besides, if his moods could somehow produce an Erza out of thin air, he wouldn't have needed to come to this guild in the first place.

Okay, fine. He'd just kidnap her tomorrow. One more day wouldn't make a difference.

Only, she didn't turn up to work the following day, either.

Or the day after that.

It was on the morning of the fourth day without Erza – his twentieth day as a member of Fairy Tail – that Jellal's impatience finally got the better of him, and he strode up to the bar where Mira was working and slammed his hands down on the counter. "Where is she?"

"Where is who?" came Mira's calm response.

"You know perfectly well who," he scowled. "Erza! Why isn't she here?"

"She's on a training camp with Natsu."

"With _Natsu?_ "

"Didn't you notice he hasn't been around to annoy you these past few days?"

Jellal cast the rest of the guildhall a cursory glance, and found with some surprise that the pink-haired menace was nowhere to be seen. Come to think of it, the past few days _had_ been uneventful.

"Sure, but I assumed that was just him keeping to his end of the deal after I won the road race. I should have known there was another explanation…"

Mira placed the glass she had been drying down on the counter and slung the tea towel over her shoulder. "After you beat him in the race, I believe Natsu realized that he needed to train harder in order to defeat you, and he bravely decided to ask Erza for help." She shook her head with a slight smile. "Poor boy. It's been four days – I can't imagine there's anything left of him by now."

"One can only hope," Jellal muttered. "Where's their training camp?" When she didn't answer, he pressed, "You know, don't you, Mira?"

"I do, but…"

"But?"

"Look, Siegrain, if Erza wanted you there, she'd have told you about it."

Jellal glowered at her, but it was more out of habit than anything else; he had learnt a long time ago that that didn't work on Fairy Tail mages. "When's she coming back?"

"I don't know. Whenever she gets bored of beating the living daylights out of a hapless Natsu, I imagine." At his sullen silence, she rested her palms on the counter and asked, "Do you miss her?"

"There's no point to anything when she's not here," he growled.

After a moment, Mira smiled again. "Well, sitting around and moping isn't going to make her come back to the guildhall any quicker. What you need is a job to take your mind off things." Before he could argue back, she tossed him the damp tea towel; he caught it reflexively. "How about helping me with the washing up?"

Jellal stared at the cloth in his hand as if he couldn't comprehend its purpose. "What? Do you genuinely think I don't have anything better to do than dry some dishes?"

"If the past few days are anything to go by, then no," Mira shrugged.

He opened his mouth to object, but she had a point, didn't she?

"Fine, whatever," he muttered, joining her on the other side of the bar and reaching for one of the wet glasses.

* * *

"We're back!"

Erza greeted the guildhall with that triumphant announcement as she strode through the double doors, swinging a sword cheerfully in one hand and dragging Natsu along behind her by his scarf with the other. A bright chorus of "Welcome home!" rose in response from the others in the room. No one even commented on the barely conscious Dragon Slayer in her grip; in fact, when she deposited him in the centre of the hall and wandered over to join Mira at the bar, they all returned to what they had been doing before she had burst into the scene. Only Lucy, who was still not fully accustomed to what passed for 'normal' in this guild, could be seen rushing over to Natsu to find out if she should be making funeral arrangements.

"Ah, it's good to be back," Erza sighed contentedly, as she sheathed her sword and perched on one of the stools at the counter, perfectly at home.

"Fancy a drink, Erza?" offered Mira. "A cup of tea, perhaps?"

"That would be great. I always forget how much I like my tea, until I'm forced to go four days in the wilderness without any."

"Coming right up," Mira grinned. "We've got cake in too; would you like some?"

It was a rhetorical question. Erza never turned down cake.

"So," Mira prompted, placing the cup, saucer and an enormous slice of strawberries-and-cream cake in front of her friend. "How was the training camp?"

Erza shrugged. "Uneventful."

"Would Natsu say the same, if I asked him?"

"He's the one who said he wanted to become stronger, whatever the cost. If he wasn't ready for my special training, he shouldn't have asked me."

"I suppose he should have known what he was letting himself in for," Mira nodded sagely.

Both of them glanced over to the centre of the guildhall. Lucy had found a blanket and wrapped Natsu up in it like a snug little sushi roll, and she and Happy were currently feeding him squares of chocolate in an attempt to revive him while he cried with joy at the forgotten warmth of human kindness.

"Still," Mira added, "You could probably have gone a little easier on him, don't you think?"

"Nonsense. How will he ever become S-Class if people are always going easy on him?"

"I think you're a special case, though, Erza. He's not going to become S-Class if you traumatize him either."

Erza grinned, and there was a twinkle in her eye. "He'll pull through. He certainly looks glad to be home, though."

"And he's not the only one who'll be glad you're back." At Erza's inquisitive look, Mira clarified, "Our resident moody councillor has spent the past four days moping about the guildhall without you."

"I can't imagine Siegrain _moping_ ," Erza said, with a rueful smile.

"It was quite surreal, I can assure you. The amount of time he spent staring listlessly into space… it made me think of a puppy, whose owner had gone out to work and left him alone for the very first time. Not even Levy could goad him into an argument."

"That does sound serious."

"I know, right? He didn't even complain when I asked him to help me with the washing up. In fact, he's in the larder right now, sorting out the latest delivery of food for me. You should go and find him when you get a spare moment, and let him know you're back. It'll probably make his week."

To Mira's surprise, rather than agreeing to her suggestion, Erza simply glanced to the side. Her good humour at returning from the training camp had all but evaporated; it was a downcast look that entered her eyes.

"Look, Mira," she began, when she could no longer put it off. "Please, just… stop it, okay?"

"Stop what?" Mira inquired. Not teasing, not like she had been to Siegrain earlier – Erza was being deadly serious now, and Mira, as one of the few friends of her age that Erza could confide in, couldn't help responding to that.

"You know. The whole 'Siegrain likes me' thing."

"Erza, I really think that-"

"No, Mira, please listen to me. You, and everyone else in the guild – you're all reading far too much into this. Just because he's asked me for help a couple of times, and we've fought together once or twice, it doesn't mean he thinks of me in that way. We're just friends, and to be honest, I'm not sure if we're even that sometimes. You're all encouraging me when there's nothing concrete to go on, and I know you all think it'd be exciting if something happened, but… that's not how it works. You've got nothing personal invested in this. It's just a bit of fun for you. If it turns out you've been misinterpreting his actions all this time, it won't hurt you at all. But if you're also encouraging me to read too much into the situation, then…"

Sighing, Erza gazed at the last bite of cake on her plate without making any attempt to eat it. "I know you don't mean any harm by it, but it's just not fair. It makes things so much more confusing for me. What if it's not what _I_ really want; what if it's not what _he_ wants? I just don't know – and how am I supposed to understand how he might really feel about me, when I have you and Lucy and Levy making mountains out of molehills every time he so much as speaks to me?"

Following this outburst, Mira said nothing for a while. She refilled Erza's teacup and added a second slice of strawberry cake to her plate. Absently picking up her fork, Erza polished off the first slice and made a start on the second without apparently noticing where it had come from.

And then, earnestly, Mira said, "I'm sorry, Erza."

Erza blinked up at her suddenly, as if she had forgotten her friend was there. "What for?"

"Because you're right. Lucy and Levy and I, and all the others – we haven't been considering how you felt about this at all. The last thing we should be doing is trying to set you up with someone without consulting you first. I am sorry about that."

Mira rested her hand on the counter and added, with an apologetic smile, "And thank you for being so open with me about it. You're not always an easy person to understand, Erza, and it means a lot that you're willing to talk to me about this. I'm always here to listen if you need me."

"Thank you, Mira," Erza said, and she truly meant it. "I thought that spending a few days away from the guild would help me to work things out, but I think it has only made me more confused."

Her friend nodded slowly, thoughtfully. "Well, forget about how he may or may not feel for a moment, Erza. How do _you_ feel?" When Erza didn't answer straight away, she prompted, "Does the fact that you're taking all this so seriously mean that you like Siegrain?"

"…I honestly don't know, Mira. I don't know if I like him, or if I've just convinced myself that I do because he sometimes appears to show an interest in me."

Mira clapped her hands together. "Well, that's an easy one to solve," she beamed. "Think about it this way. Can you see yourself spending the rest of your life with him?"

Her perfectly innocent question was met by a round of spluttering as Erza choked on a strawberry. Coughing, she downed the rest of her tea in an attempt to soothe her throat, and then did the same to a third cup as soon as Mira had refilled it from the teapot.

Erza stared up at her friend with watery eyes. "Mira, I've only known him for three weeks!" she retorted, and the sheer disbelief embedded in that statement more than made up for the weakness of her voice. "It's _far_ too soon to be thinking about the future!"

And then, much to Mira's amazement, Erza continued, "But… he's the only one I have ever met who made me feel that it's okay not to hate my past. I no longer feel as though I'm running away from the past, but that I'm walking towards the future. What happened, happened. Whether it was good or bad doesn't matter. It brought me here, to this guild that I love and this life I can enjoy alongside those I care about."

Her gaze became distant once more as she tried to put her feelings into words the other could understand. "Siegrain knows me. The real me. He knows more about me than anyone, and when he first came here, that scared me so much. But time went by, and now that I'm used to it… it actually feels like a weight has been lifted. He _knows_ , so there's no point in me hiding behind my armour any more – no reason for me to try and be anything other than just me. I think that's why I can actually sit here and talk to you about this rather than keeping it all inside." A self-conscious flush crept across her cheeks. "It sounds stupid, doesn't it?"

"Not at all. You seem happy, Erza, and I'm glad about that."

After a minute went by without Erza saying anything more, Mira ventured, "You may not want it, and you may not need it, Erza, but can I give you some advice?"

"Please do."

"You're not going to work out how you feel about Siegrain by avoiding him. For that, you need to spend time with him, or at least talk to him. You should ask him out somewhere."

This time, it was her tea that Erza choked on. "Mira!" she spluttered. "After everything I just said about not being sure, your advice is to go on a date with him?"

"I said nothing of the sort. It could be a date, if you wanted, but then again it could simply be a mission together, or an errand in the town, or even a training camp. Between you and me, though, I think he could really do with a holiday. He's been very depressed these past few days. Maybe it's because you went off without warning-"

" _Mira!_ "

"-or maybe it's because he's got a thing for Natsu, and he's jealous that you got to spend time alone with him," Mira added.

Erza couldn't help smiling a little at that. "And, what, the way he gets annoyed at every little thing that Natsu does is just a front?"

"It could be his cute little way of showing his affection," Mira advised, and they both laughed at that. "Seriously, though. I think he'd appreciate it. Besides, you could always look at it this way – it's the duty of this guild's only sensible S-Class Mage to look out for the new members and make sure they aren't depressed or lonely, isn't it? What have you got to lose from asking him?"

"…What if he says no?"

"Then at least you'll know where you stand, won't you?"

"I… Yeah, you're right. I'll do that. Thanks, Mira." Erza stood up and gave her friend a nervous smile. "He's in the larder, right?"

Mira nodded. "I'll be rooting for you, Erza," she assured her, and she watched proudly as Erza steeled herself, took a deep breath, and headed off towards the kitchens.

Even if Erza felt uncertain, it was all too clear to Mira, looking in from the outside, what was going on. The fact that Erza was so unusually hesitant about this was the clearest sign that she absolutely wanted to get it right – and Mira thought that this Erza, shy but earnest, able to talk about her feelings and ask for guidance when she needed it, was a great step forwards for the girl who had always put up a confident façade to stop others from getting close. And as for Siegrain…

Well, if Erza asked her not to speculate about his intentions out loud then she wouldn't, but after what she had seen these past few days, there was no way in hell that man was going to turn her down.

* * *

As with all great cities, there was a part of Magnolia where most residents did not dare to venture. Amongst this seedy district, which all respectable citizens pretended not to notice, a particular backstreet was hidden. It was not one that anyone would enter unless they had business there, for the shadows carried blades and the walls were always listening. At first glance, it did not seem to serve any purpose besides offering a venue for shady backhand deals and swift, bloody betrayals: all piles of refuse where a body could remain hidden for days, and windowless buildings stretching up high enough to deny entry to the midday sun. Yet hidden behind those intimidating walls, accessible only through doors which opened to a select few, lay secrets that most of Magnolia's mages could only dream about.

One of those doors was of significant interest as dawn broke the following day, having remained metaphorically open all night at the request of one particularly demanding client. It led to a shop, of sorts, though the cramped, dingy, windowless room was hardly the kind designed to attract customers. The walls were covered from floor to ceiling with shelves bearing bottles of all shapes and sizes, filled with liquids encompassing the entire spectra of consistency and colour, no matter how luminescent or unnatural.

Whether the client's request was dangerous, illegal, or downright bizarre, if this shop's owner could not accommodate it, then no one could. Venom extracted from the fangs of a Poison Dragon? That dusty black vial on the top shelf. A brew to change the outward appearance of the one who consumed it to mimic any human being they could imagine for an hour? Right wall, middle shelf, at the back. A potion to induce maddening hallucinations? That crystal decanter there, filled with the bubbly crimson liquid that looked an awful lot like blood.

And a sleeping potion powerful enough to knock out an S-Class Mage for several hours? Well, for that, you would want the little vial of milky white liquid currently resting on Jellal's upturned palm.

"One hundred thousand."

A small smirk crossed Jellal's face. "I'll give you thirty thousand for it."

"You hurt me, Jellal," whined the old shopkeeper, with a reproachful look that was every bit as false as the other's smile. "You know full well it cost me more than that to obtain it. I can't sell it to you for anything less than ninety."

Though they had had dealings with each other several times over the past eight years, Jellal did not know the wizened old man's name, nor did he care much for it. It was far more important that the sly gentleman knew who he was than the other way round – this side of society was one where his real name, rather than his assumed one, carried by far the most weight.

He wasn't particularly concerned about the price of the goods he sought, either. Running a dark cult was a lucrative enough business without having the not insignificant income of a councillor to supplement it. Besides, this close to the culmination of his plan, whereupon worldly goods like money would cease to have any meaning at all, balancing the books was hardly his biggest priority.

Getting a fair price wasn't the point of this game, however. Between a dark mage of his standing and such an infamous member of the underground community, it was a mere formality – and one Jellal had no qualms about participating in. So he placed his free hand on the counter, leaned in a little too close for comfort, and said, with a sweet smile, "Forty."

Disappointment laced the old man's voice. "And there I thought we were friends, Jellal. If that is how you wish to play, then so be it. I won't have trouble finding another buyer for such a rare potion."

If he had hoped for a reaction then he was disappointed; Jellal did not so much as flinch as the other's gnarled fingers lifted the bottle from his palm. "Perhaps," said he. "But then again, I thought you'd have wanted to be out of this city by first light, given how close the Rune Knights are to finding your latest hideout."

The fingers gripping the bottle quivered. "You know full well I wanted to be long gone from here by now – and then you just strolled in at midnight with your outrageous demands! Something as rare as this, to be ready in five hours' time, no less! Anyone else would have laughed in your face at such an impossible request!"

"But not you. No, you worked so hard to source it for me at such short notice, because you knew all too well what the consequences would be if you failed, didn't you?" Jellal's magic remained as tightly bound as ever; there was no need for him to exert his power when his reputation would be far more effective a weapon. "You could still be out of Magnolia within the hour. Forty thousand, _and_ I'll help you pack."

Unfortunately, no one easily cowed lasted long in this business, and that wizened old creature had been playing this game since long before Jellal had been born. "Seventy thousand. My final offer. Pay up, or go home empty-handed."

"Fifty thousand. And my next offer will be to prise it for free from your cold, dead hands."

It wasn't proper negotiation if there weren't any threats involved. The old man's cackling filled the air. "Nice try. I know you're smarter than that, Jellal."

"True," Jellal mused. "You count amongst your assets an unrivalled ability to locate and obtain the rarest in magical potions, which the entire underworld relies upon. If anyone crosses the line with you, they'll find themselves the enemy of every dark guild on the continent overnight."

"Then-"

"However," Jellal interrupted, gleefully smug. "I count amongst _my_ assets a very obedient big brother who will be more than happy to incur the wrath of said dark guilds, since he's already their sworn enemy. He'll jump at the chance to eliminate such a major player in their operation."

"You wouldn't-"

"He's in Magnolia right now, you know. He'll come running at once if I call him. He's well-behaved like that." Jellal shrugged. "Alternatively, we could settle at fifty thousand and both leave Magnolia in one piece."

The two of them glared at each other. "Very well," the merchant conceded. "Fifty thousand."

"Much obliged," Jellal grinned. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a small leather pouch and tossed it to the old man. Fifty thousand jewels, already counted out, no more and no less than he had been intending to pay from the moment he had commissioned the potion. "Pleasure doing business with you."

"Likewise," said the old man, although his scowl told a different story as he offered the small crystal bottle to Jellal.

With a smirk, Jellal slipped it into his pocket and turned to leave. Having a second persona really did come in handy. The best part was that it wasn't even a bluff – if the merchant had tried to call it, he could quite happily have destroyed the entire shop as Siegrain and got clean away with it. Lamentably, the traders he dealt with on the black market were wise to this. They had learnt very quickly that the Master of the Tower of Heaven did not make empty threats.

Then again, a victory achieved completely without magic held its own kind of satisfaction. It seemed that his luck was finally changing. He had been surprised yesterday when Erza had asked him out of the blue to accompany her on a day out, but it was a _pleasant_ surprise – one perfect kidnapping opportunity on a silver platter, with the added bonus that she had instigated it this time, meaning that it didn't look suspicious in the slightest. Even better, she had been happy to let him choose the destination. Between that, and the little vial now sat safely in his pocket, he had no doubt that this game would be over by the end of the day.

Yes, Jellal was in a remarkably good mood as he stepped out of the shop – only to walk straight into Juvia.

Both of them froze. Jellal stared at Juvia. Juvia stared right back at him. A cold breeze whistled through the alleyway.

It was a pointless question, because no one would enter this backstreet unless they intended to visit that shop, but someone had to say _something_ , so Jellal took one for the team. "What are you doing here?"

"What are _you_ doing here?" she countered.

Jellal folded his arms. "Obviously, I'm investigating this creepy shop on behalf of the Magic Council."

"Well, obviously Juvia is investigating it on behalf of a client."

"Fine."

"Fine!"

And with that, they stepped around each other and continued on their respective ways.

Jellal had almost made it to the end of the alley when the sound of the shop door clicking shut caused him to stop in his tracks. Whatever Juvia wanted from a vendor like that, it couldn't be good. Not to mention, she was far too nice to be able to deal with the traders of the underworld. Going in there without a single bargaining chip was madness.

Well, whatever. It wasn't his problem.

But he had only managed a single step before he came to a halt again. It kind of _was_ his problem.

He could already see how this was going to play out. That old trader would want to cover as many of the costs incurred in fulfilling Jellal's request as possible, and thus he would fleece Juvia for everything she had, before giving her something unsellable – something beyond its expiry date, or even some random concoction thrown together from whatever he had left over. Needless to say, it would be something dangerous, and Juvia was far too naïve to be able to identify it for the threat that it was.

And Jellal couldn't care less if she got herself into hot water, but knowing this guild's penchant for trouble, it would undoubtedly turn out to be something that brought chaos upon the guildhall… and that meant he'd get dragged into it, whether he liked it or not.

This _wasn't_ helping another member of the guild – it was simply taking preventative measures before this could escalate into something far worse.

After a minute spent silently cursing Fairy Tail with every fibre of his being, Jellal turned on his heel and re-entered the shop.

As he had anticipated, Juvia was sat demurely in the chair in front of the counter, her hands placed in her lap. If Jellal was perfectly at home amongst the seedy shadows, having exchanged his usual Council attire for the darker colours and hooded jacket he preferred when acting as his dark mage persona, then she was the complete opposite. There was a sinister grin stretching across the old man's face as he held out a square decanter towards her – a grin which quickly turned to surprise, and then to horror, when the sound of the slamming door alerted him to Jellal's return.

"Jellal!" he choked.

Juvia also whirled round at the noise. "Siegrain…?"

Ignoring her, he strode into the room with a confidence born of sheer irritation. "What's going on here?" he demanded of the sly merchant. "What are you selling her?"

"It's nothing!" Juvia protested, a little too quickly. There was a spark of accusation in her flustered manner – _didn't that encounter outside entail a tacit agreement not to pry into each other's affairs?_

She tried to spring to her feet but Jellal got there first, placing his hand on her shoulder and pushing her back down into the chair. With any luck, she would take that as a sign to let the professional dark mage deal with this.

"As the lady says, her business is her own," the old man deflected.

Unfortunately for him, his not-so-subtle attempt to slide the decanter out of sight was foiled when Jellal snatched it out of his hand with exceptional reflexes. "What is this?" he muttered, holding it up to one of the few spluttering candle flames that provided the room with its meagre illumination.

When no answer appeared to be forthcoming, either from a furiously blushing Juvia or the nervously twitching merchant, Jellal sent a little of his magic into the liquid in the container, which began to glow faintly. His acute senses picked up the faint response of the potion's magic, though rather than settling down into a pattern he might have been able to interpret, it pulsed erratically, bursting like unintelligible fractals into his mind. With a growl, he repeated, "What is it?"

"It's…" The vendor had already lost to this man once; he didn't much fancy going another round. In the end, he chose to prioritize his own welfare over client confidentiality, answering, "It's a love potion."

After a moment of silence that Juvia would have sworn lasted a full hour, Jellal laughed, dark and mocking. Both the shop's other inhabitants shrunk away from the sound. "Nice try. What is it really?"

"It's as I said," protested the old man. "She asked for something that would make the man she likes look only at her-"

"I have no doubt that's what she asked for," Jellal overrode him coolly. "What I want to know is what you were giving her."

"It's just a love-"

At that moment, Jellal released his full power. All the bottles lining the walls shattered at once. In that instant, they could see, hear and feel nothing but the immense waves of magic rolling off his body; both of them stared up at him in fear, paralyzed to the spot as glass shards and rainbow droplets rained down upon them. Jellal's grip tightened on Juvia's shoulder, but his gaze did not leave that of the old man for a moment.

"This girl is a friend of mine," he said. "Screw with her, and you make an enemy of me." He shifted his weight slightly on his feet; the torrent of magic flooding the room raged and roiled with every minute movement he made. "I'll ask you once more, and I advise you to think very carefully about your answer this time: what is in this bottle?"

The old man blanched. He knew full well that Jellal could do anything he liked and Siegrain would take the fall for it.

"Okay, okay!" he confessed, throwing his hands up in the air. "It's just something I threw together out of old potions I had left over! I have no idea what it will do! Probably just cause obsession with defeating another person or something, I don't know, nothing dangerous; I didn't mean any harm by it, I swear! I had no idea she was with you! I would never have lied if I'd known-"

Jellal had no interest in the merchant's excuses. His intuition had been right. No doubt if this potion had reached the guildhall, it would have caused an outbreak of utter chaos, and he'd have been dragged into it. That had been a close one. He was sorely tempted to make this man suffer for trying to wreak havoc upon his day, but he wasn't quite angry enough to risk doing something like that in front of a Fairy Tail mage. He was going to have enough trouble explaining this one away as it was.

Instead, he just growled, "Get out of here. Don't ever let me catch you in Magnolia again."

It didn't take long for the merchant to make up his mind. He seized a duffel bag almost as big as he was from underneath the counter – no doubt he had been ready to flee from the moment Jellal had first arrived with his demand – and hightailed it out of the shop. Only when Jellal was certain that he was gone for good did he rein his power back in, and let silence descend upon the shop's ruined interior.

Exhaling slowly, he relaxed his grip on Juvia's shoulder. "It's too dangerous for a guild mage to come to a place like this," he told her quietly. "The traders of the underworld will eat you alive if you don't have the right kind of leverage."

She got to her feet, clasping her hands together and bowing her head in a show of apology. "You're right. Juvia is very sorry. She wasn't thinking straight."

"You can say that again." Slipping his hands into his pockets, Jellal grimaced at the destruction around him. He was going to pay for that. It would be a long time before that particular trader would be willing to do business with him again.

Then again, with the Tower complete and the perfect kidnapping opportunity only a few hours away, he didn't _need_ anyone's help from here on out. A dark humour glittered in his eyes; a fraction of his good mood was returning, and he added, smugly, "As if coming to such a shady establishment alone wasn't bad enough, you were here for such a pitiful reason as acquiring a love potion? That's laughable. I had thought better of you than that."

Juvia, who had been sincerely hoping he was going to forget about that, stared at the floor as if she wished she could sink into it. "Juvia just wanted… her dear Gray to look at her, just once…"

This only made him laugh. "Do you really think anyone could love a woman who resorts to such cheap tricks to attract the attention of the man she likes? Your obsession with him is pathetic. You should have more respect for yourself-"

His scornful words were cut off abruptly as she slapped him across the cheek.

"You're the last person Juvia wants to hear that from!" she yelled at him. "You're so lucky! Everything's worked out perfectly for you! You could never understand what it's like to be in love with someone who won't even look at you!"

She raised her hand to hit him again, but her palm trembled, and then she turned on her heel and fled from the shop, tears streaming down her cheeks.

Astonished, Jellal watched her go in silence. The place where she'd hit him was starting to sting; he rubbed absently at his cheek, hoping it wasn't going to leave a mark.

"What on earth is she so upset about?" he muttered grumpily. "See if I go out of my way to help any Fairy Tail mages again…"

* * *

It was at a far more reasonable hour of the morning that Natsu and Happy arrived at the guildhall to start work.

Or so Natsu had thought, anyway, but apparently 9AM wasn't good enough for Lucy, who collared him the instant he entered the hall and dragged him over to a bench where a half-asleep Gray was already slouched. "Big news, Natsu!" she announced.

"Mmm…?" was about all the poor boy could manage in response, having not yet fully recovered from his training camp with Erza.

Lucy pulled some paper tickets out of her pocket and placed them triumphantly down on the table for the two boys and the cat to examine. Gray asked, "Hey, aren't these the tickets for Akane Resort that Loke gave us ages ago? Why do you still have these?"

"Well, funny thing," Lucy began. "I thought I had thrown them out, but then I was tidying up last night because my landlady was coming round to inspect the apartment, and I found them buried under the manuscripts on my desk. I was reading through the terms and conditions on the back of the tickets-"

"Nice procrastination there, Lucy," Happy sniggered.

"Yes, yes, alright. But anyway, according to the small print, advance tickets like these are protected by a Fair Weather Guarantee!"

"…Which means what, exactly?" Gray checked.

"The tickets are only valid on the printed date, but if that day has such bad weather that a trip to a beach resort just isn't feasible, the tickets become valid for entry on any day up to three weeks later! That day that we were supposed to go was the rainiest on record – we won't have a problem proving that the guarantee applies to us."

"And three weeks ago, that's…" Natsu frowned as he tried to do the calculation in his head; Lucy, who had checked and double-checked on her calendar to make sure she was absolutely right before breaking the news, put him out of his misery.

"This is the last day that the three-week guarantee is valid for. In other words: we absolutely _have_ to go to the beach today."

Natsu and Gray looked at each other, and then broke out into synchronized grins. "I'm up for it," Gray said approvingly.

"Same here," Natsu agreed. "Though there are four tickets, and Happy doesn't need one to get in, so we should invite someone else along with us."

"What about Erza?" Gray suggested. "She was supposed to be coming with us the first time, after all."

Lucy shook her head. "I spoke to Mira, and she said that Erza is taking the day off today to go on a date with Siegrain. We can't postpone the trip for her as the tickets will expire, but since they're apparently off on a daytrip of their own, I don't think she'll mind if we go without her."

"Then who should we ask instead?"

"Well, I was thinking we could invite Juvia. She seemed really upset when she came into the guildhall this morning for some reason, but she won't talk to anyone about it. I think that a trip to the beach would be a good way of cheering her up a bit. It's no fun to be alone when you're sad – especially since she hasn't been in the guild long, and she probably doesn't feel like she knows anyone here well enough to confide in."

"Alright, let's ask her, then!" Natsu agreed, but before he could dash over with the tickets, Lucy grabbed his shoulder.

"Not so fast. I think Gray should ask her."

"What?" demanded the ice mage. "Why me?"

"Because I think it would probably help her quite a lot right now. You don't want our colleague to stay upset, right? Just go over there and ask her if she wants to come with us to the beach."

"Alright, alright…" he grumbled, and left the group.

Lucy, Natsu and Happy watched from afar as the two of them began to converse. Then, as if a switch had been thrown, life returned at once to Juvia's forlorn demeanour; she wiped her eyes on her sleeve and jumped to her feet in joy.

Natsu raised his eyebrows. "Wow. She must really like beaches."

"Yeah, something like that," Lucy sighed.

"Say, Lucy. You said that Erza and Siegrain were going out somewhere today, right? Do you know where to?"

"No. Mira didn't tell me. I don't think she knew."

"Wouldn't it be great if they were also going to Akane Resort? We could all hang out together away from the guild!"

Happy interjected, "Crash their date, you mean?"

"No, not like that. Obviously we could give them some time to themselves and all that, but still, I think being there together would be a lot of fun too."

"Yeah, I guess it would be." Lucy gave a reluctant smile. "There are hundreds of great tourist spots within a few hours' travel of Magnolia, though. What are the odds of us all ending up in the same place?"

* * *

 _ **A/N:** Ah, but Lucy, you're assuming the two events are uncorrelated. In actual fact, Jellal and Erza are going to Akane Resort because he got to choose and he picked the best location to kidnap her from. Lucy and the others are going to Akane Resort because that's where their tickets are valid for, because when Jellal got them those tickets as part of his original plan, he also picked the best location to kidnap Erza from. So it's not a coincidence at all. It is, in fact, an accidental triple date._

 _As you can see, we're moving swiftly on from the race and getting the whole romance aspect back on track_ … _though possibly not in the way you'll be expecting. Amongst the many practical issues of the Jellal/Erza relationship that I want to address in this story, one is particularly interesting to me, because in this setup it's the complete reverse of the same problem in canon. That's what I want to explore next. In a beach chapter. Or three._ _~CS_


	16. Triple Date

**Kidnapping Erza**

By CrimsonStarbird

* * *

 **Chapter Sixteen: Triple Date**

Erza was nervous.

Not that a stranger would have known it from looking at her. The armour she always wore concealed the anxious fluttering of her heart; her slight shortness of breath was as likely to be the product of a brisk walk to the station as it was nerves. She was clearly a guild mage, so the unconscious shuffling of her feet was probably anticipation for the big mission she was embarking upon, and the slight twitch of her fingers hinted at nothing more than an eagerness for battle. Even the unblinking way in which she stared up at the departure boards could merely have represented a devotion to planning and preparation.

Only Jellal noticed all these things for what they were as he watched her from inside a café on the platform. He had made sure he was safely out of her line of sight, though he doubted she would have noticed if he was stood right next to her, the way she was now. She had every right to be nervous. She would be dead before this day was up, and he would be triumphant. A devilish grin parted his lips.

"Your order, sir."

It was with some reluctance that Jellal dragged his attention away from Erza and to the barista who had spoken. "Thank you," he replied, still with that same smile upon his lips, and the barista had never known such relief as when his customer calmly picked up both polystyrene cups and exited the café without another word.

Jellal had eyes for nothing but his sacrifice as he strode across the platform. "Erza!"

Although he had deliberately called to her from several metres away, she jumped anyway, and there was an embarrassed smile on her face as she turned to greet him. "Siegrain! Good morning."

"Here," he said, offering her one of the cups, which she accepted gratefully. "I bought coffee."

"Thank you." A genuine smile: soft, still nervous, but somehow put at ease by his arrival. "You should have said if you were going to the café. I'd have come with you-"

"I remembered you telling me on the tour of the town that this café was your favourite place to go for coffee, and I wanted to surprise you." And to slip the sleeping potion into her drink without her seeing, but she didn't need to know that.

"You… really remembered that?"

There was a nice scarlet tinge to her cheeks. It was the perfect look for his beautiful, pure sacrifice to wear.

"Of course," Jellal replied, and the slight smile had returned to his face. "I didn't keep you waiting, did I?"

He already knew the answer to that, having intentionally got here long before the arranged time and observed her arrival from afar, but it seemed like the appropriate thing to say in this situation, and his efforts were rewarded when she anxiously waved her free hand, once again on the back foot. "No, no, don't worry! I only just got here myself. I was just looking for our platform-"

"Ah, Platform Four," he noted. "It's almost time. Shall we go?"

He glanced around to find the platform. Erza was about to do the same, but her gaze happened to fall upon his free hand and lingered there, wondering. Her heart was beating even faster than before; her moment of indecision seemed to last a full minute.

In the end, the decision was made for her when Jellal set off briskly towards the platform. Erza gave her head a vigorous shake, clutched her coffee cup in both hands as though holding it in such a way would justify her hesitance, and followed after him.

Both of them were so distracted – Erza by her attempt to second-guess his intentions, and Jellal by all the thoughts of the apocalypse he would unleash as soon as they arrived at their destination – that neither of them noticed a pink-haired Dragon Slayer and his companions burst through the station's main entrance, tear along Platform Four as if the forces of hell were hot on their heels, and dive through the closing doors of the rearmost carriage just as the train began to move.

* * *

Finding sleep magic powerful enough to affect a mage like Erza was no easy task. An ordinary drug was out of the question when Jellal would be the first to admit that his knowledge of plants and poisons was minimal at best. Only magic would achieve the result he needed – and even that wasn't as straightforward as it seemed. If the enchantment wasn't strong enough, Erza's own magic would fight back and throw it off completely, just like he had been able to resist Mystogan's sleep spell. It didn't help that enchantment magic was hardly his area of expertise, favouring instead the deadly, overwhelming force of magic in its purest form.

Furthermore, his repeated failures had taught him to take into account the possibility that something might go wrong, forcing him to abort the plan halfway through. In that case, he had to ensure that even a mage as experienced as Erza wouldn't be able to tell she had been drugged. Finding magic that could simulate the body's natural processes that well was nigh on impossible.

Then again, if there was a place where such a potion could be acquired, it was at the heart of the black market, and having a notorious dark mage as his alter ego put him in a unique positon to access it. He trusted that shady vendor more than he trusted most of the mages in Fairy Tail – there was a loyalty amongst the criminal underworld; a loyalty inspired by fear. Eight years of building up a reputation for being utterly ruthless to those who crossed him ensured that the vial of milky liquid he had obtained early that morning would achieve exactly the result he needed.

By the time they made it onto the train, Erza was already unsteady on her feet. She was trying to hide it, but she should have learnt by now that she couldn't hide anything from him.

It was a quiet train – too late for commuters, but nor was there much call for a train to the seaside in the middle of the working week. They reached a carriage that was completely empty save for the two of them, at which point Jellal decided that they had gone far enough, and guided her to a table seat. She sat down next to the window, and he took the seat opposite her, wanting to look her in the eye as she lost consciousness.

As the train pulled away from the platform, Erza stared out of the window as the marble of the station's architecture became the rough, soot-stained red of industrial buildings, and then the emerald-green of the countryside and freedom. Jellal did not care for the world passing by. He looked only at her: at her unfocussed eyes and deep, somnolent breathing; at her vulnerability, as his snare tightened around her.

As if only just registering his attention upon her, she shook herself and gave him a nervous smile. "Ah, I'm being rude, aren't I?"

"It's quite alright, Erza," he assured her, and she was already too far gone to be able to identify the glint in his eye for what it was.

"I'm sorry," she ploughed on, regardless. "I just feel so tired… it's my fault. I couldn't sleep at all last night. Potential scenarios for today just kept playing over and over again in my mind-"

Then her eyes widened suddenly, as if she hadn't meant to say that out loud. Typical Erza, that – blaming herself for something that was entirely his fault. Not that he was complaining. It was little wonder the potion was working so quickly if she was already so tired.

"It's alright, Erza," he repeated. "You can rest. I'll wake you when we get there."

"…Thank you." Such gentleness, such warmth, and such trust. And then she was gone: sound asleep without even the hint of suspicion.

Jellal had not realized he had been holding his breath, and now he slowly exhaled; a soft, shuddering sigh trembling through his entire body.

This was what victory felt like.

 _Look._

 _Look at her._

Her eyes shut; her breathing deep and regular; completely at peace, with the side of her head resting gently against the window pane. How many years had he waited for this moment, to have this incredible woman utterly within his power? Eight patient years – no, it was longer than that. Wasn't this what he had wanted from the moment he had first laid eyes upon her? To have her belong to him and him alone?

"Excuse me, sir?"

An unfamiliar voice cut into the world where only he and she existed. He started visibly; there was already magic swirling at the palm of his hand as he sought the woman who had spoken. If there was a witness – if she had seen Erza – if she suspected anything – he would silence her without hesitation.

But his possessive instinct found its opposite in the friendly smile of the young lady who stood in the aisle. Her long hair was tied back underneath an official deep blue cap; in her hand, she held a chunky black ticket machine. As cheerful as the cloudless summer sky, she beamed down at him and asked, "May I see your tickets, please?"

Jellal considered his options for a moment, and then let the gathered power vanish, instead reaching into his pocket and pulling out two tickets. The ticket inspector examined them, before handing them back with a chirpy, "Excellent, thank you, sir."

It was then that she noticed the sleeping form of his companion. Completely unaware of the dangerous ground upon which she was treading, she inquired, "Is the young lady alright?"

Calmly, carefully, Jellal replied, "She is perfectly well. Unfortunately, she experiences terrible motion sickness when she travels. She likes to take a sleeping draught before embarking upon long journeys, to make the going easier for both of us."

The inspector nodded, accepting it completely. "Good thinking. You know, there's a poor young man a couple of carriages back who could do with something like that. Maybe I'll suggest it to him next time I pass through." She glanced at Erza once again, and it seemed as though, of all things, it was admiration that glimmered in her eyes. "She must really trust you. Oh, is she your girlfriend?"

His mouth was half-open to correct her when he paused. What did it matter? It wasn't as if Erza was awake to correct him; he could say whatever he liked. And why shouldn't everyone know that she was his and his alone?

So it was with a smile that he said, "Yes, that's right. She's mine."

"Well, you take good care of her, then. Enjoy your trip."

And she finally left them to it. The gentle rumbling of the train intensified as she opened the door at the other end of the carriage, and then faded again just as abruptly. The click of the latch confirmed that they were alone.

No one around to see. No one around to suspect him. No one around to overhear. Just him and Erza; just like it was supposed to be.

How many times had he dreamed of this exact moment? Over the past few weeks he had been closer to her than ever before, but it had never been just the two of them. There had always been Fairy Tail mages sticking their noses in; stalking him around the town or refusing to leave him alone in the guildhall.

Now, at long last, things were different.

This solitude, this confidence, this feeling of triumph, so long-awaited; the clarity of the cloudless sky, and the summer's sunlight dancing along his skin; the exultation over what he had accomplished and the anticipation of what was still to come and the satisfaction of having overcome his divine sacrifice at last; her contentedness as she slept, and perhaps dreamed; and the familiar way in which her hair fell around her shoulders and the blue of her guild mark, _his_ colour, peeking through that scarlet curtain; and the slender elegance of her fingers resting on the table an inch from his own and her perfect pale skin and her full lips slightly parted and _her._

His heart was racing, and he didn't know why.

He tried to focus on other things – the blurred green of the countryside passing by outside their window; the violent shaking of the carriage as a train shot by in the opposite direction; a pair of amorous swallows keeping pace with them, curving and looping around each other in a peerless display of acrobatics – but his thoughts always returned to her. Every attempt to plan out exactly what he would do when the train pulled into the station ended with the realization that he had been staring at her for several minutes and his plan was no further forward.

When they had parted in the Tower they had both been children, but they were adults now, and she had become beautiful in a way he could never have imagined back then. She was stunning, she was unparalleled, and she belonged completely to him. No one but him had the right to see her like this; to be so close to her.

He wondered how long it would be until they arrived at their final destination. Eight years he had waited for this moment, and now that the day had finally come, he almost found himself wishing that he could have had more time to spend with her before offering her up to his god. Why had he waited until the Tower was complete to reunite with her, when he could have come to Magnolia years ago, and got to know her just like this while his ultimate weapon was being built?

But he could not change what had happened, and he could not wait any longer. More than having her close, he wanted to destroy the perfection that captivated him so, and with it, the world.

This beautiful woman had to die for him. That was the only ending he would allow.

* * *

"The train is now arriving at Akane Station, where this service will be terminating. Be sure to take your personal belongings with you as you disembark, and do mind the gap between the train and the platform."

As the automated message began to repeat, Jellal spoke softly. "It's the end of the line, Erza. This is as far as we go."

She was still sound asleep, of course, meaning that there were exactly as many people listening to his remark as there were paying attention to the repeated announcement, but that was beside the point. He was speaking purely for his own sake. There would be plenty of drama once he finally got her to the Tower – he might as well begin the theatrics now. Today was going to be perfect. He had earnt it.

Even though there was still no one but the two of them in the carriage, Jellal waited for a few minutes after the train had stopped, so that all the other passengers would have cleared the platform by the time he disembarked. When his impatience would let him wait no longer, he got to his feet and picked Erza up gently in his arms. She didn't so much as stir.

With a surreptitious glance up and down the aisle to check that there really was no one watching, Jellal shuffled to the carriage door, somehow managed to hit the open button with his knee, and began the first trial on his path to apocalyptic conquest: carrying Erza off the train without falling into that aforementioned gap between the train and the platform. It was trickier than it sounded, since he couldn't see where he was putting his feet with her in his arms, but he supposed it was a good warm-up for the challenges still to come.

Outside, the platform was only small. Akane Port itself had a far more impressive train station. This one solely served the resort, which was too far out from the main city to be walkable, and so was more like the small single platform serving a rural stop in the middle of nowhere than the grand hub of infrastructure he had grown accustomed to in Era or Magnolia. That was good. There were no guards around to spot him.

Most other holidaymakers had indeed left the platform already, but there was some sort of commotion going on a couple of carriages down. If Jellal hadn't known better, he would have said it looked like another group was having trouble traversing that dastardly gap.

Still, it wasn't a big deal. They were probably just fixing the ramp in place for a wheelchair user or something.

He couldn't see a wheelchair, though. No, it looked an awful lot like the source of the problem was someone trying to disembark from the train while carrying an unconscious person in their arms.

 _This is a popular place for a kidnapping,_ Jellal thought to himself, as he prepared to fly away with Erza.

Then, over the hissing of steam from the engine, he heard a voice: "Alright, Juvia, you get off first and make sure we don't fall into the gap. Gray, you grab his arms; I'll take his feet. Right, on three- No, shut up Natsu, you _don't_ get a say in this; how can you be so bad with transport that you can't walk on your own even after the train has _stopped moving-_? Gray, ready? One, two- three!"

Jellal watched in utter incredulity as Lucy, Gray and Juvia between them managed to drag a semi-conscious Natsu from the train and deposit him safely onto the platform. He lay there groaning, a pitiful sound which matched the gross shade of green that his cheeks had decided was in this season.

"Is there really nothing that can be done about him?" Lucy demanded of Happy, who shook his head mournfully. "This is becoming unbearable. Next time, I'm inviting someone who can handle trains. Holidays should not be this much of a chore."

"I vote we carry him to the beach and dunk him in the sea," Gray suggested. "That'll snap him out of it."

"I'd be up for that, apart from the bit where we have to carry him," Lucy lamented. "I guess we'll just wait here until he can walk again."

All four of them sighed in unison. Natsu tried to say something that might have been an apology or might have been his feelings about Gray's sea-dunking plan, but it just came out as another groan.

"Ah, Lucy?" Juvia ventured.

"What is it, Juvia?"

"Well… isn't that Siegrain standing over there?"

Jellal froze. Why, oh why, had he paused to watch the spectacle rather than running off with Erza while they were distracted?

"Yeah, I think it is!" Lucy remarked. Apparently too far away to notice the death-glare he was shooting her, she waved her arm over her head, calling, "Hey, Siegrain! It's us!"

"Oh, yippee," he muttered.

"Let's go and say hi!" Lucy said, promptly abandoning the collapsed Natsu to dash over, with Gray and Happy hot on her heels. Juvia followed somewhat more reluctantly, possibly in the hope that if she avoided drawing attention to herself, he wouldn't be prompted to remember their backstreet encounter in the early hours of that morning.

Fortunately for her, Jellal had other things on his mind: namely, trying to work out what he had done to deserve such terrible luck. "And what, exactly, are you lot doing here?"

"We're on a daytrip to the beach!" Lucy told him. "We had no idea you and Erza were heading to Akane Resort too."

"That's one hell of a coincidence," Jellal growled, narrowing his eyes suspiciously.

"Actually, it's quite a funny story. You wouldn't know this, since it happened before you joined the guild, but a few weeks ago we helped our friend Loke return to the Celestial Spirit World where he belongs, and he gave us these resort tickets to say thank you. We couldn't go the first time because the weather was terrible, but I discovered last night that the tickets are actually still valid until the end of today, so here we are. To think you and Erza would be here as well! Isn't it perfect how it has all worked out?"

It seemed that he and Lucy had very different ideas of perfection. Of all the rotten luck-

Hang on a minute. _He_ had given them those tickets, as part of his original plan to kidnap Erza. Had he just been foiled by his own evil plan?

Jellal had a sneaking suspicion that his rating as an evil mastermind had just hit an all-time low.

To make matters worse, Gray chose that moment to point out the elephant in the room. "Hey, what's wrong with Erza?"

"Nothing's wrong with her," Jellal ground out. "She was tired, so she fell asleep on the train. That's all. There's nothing to see here."

"Why didn't you just wake her up when you got to the station?"

"Because I thought it would be more romantic this way; why do you think?" he snapped sarcastically.

Lucy gave Erza's shoulder a quick shake. "Gray, she won't wake up."

"She was _really_ tired," Jellal reiterated.

Gray frowned at him. "It looks more like she was drugged to me. Are you sure this isn't the work of an enemy mage?"

"I think I'd have noticed," Jellal responded, through gritted teeth.

He persisted, "What if it was some sort of plan to take out Erza, and they were forced to back off when they discovered she wasn't alone?"

"Look, Siegrain," Lucy cut in, offering him a small smile which he refused to return. "I know you think everything is fine, but I'm worried about Erza. I think it might be best if we stick together – at least until we know she's okay. You don't mind, right?"

"…No, of course not. Why would I mind? This is great. Absolutely great."

For some reason, those words didn't quite match the murderous expression in his eyes.

As a means of consolation, Lucy added, "Don't worry – we don't want to completely crash your date. I'll make sure the boys give you and Erza some time to yourselves later. We just want to make sure she's okay first. I mean, if this is the work of an enemy, it'll be better for us to face them together, don't you think?"

"You'd be amazed at just how effective that strategy is," Jellal grumbled.

"Oh, looks like Natsu's back on his feet," Happy reported.

"Great, we can all head for the resort together." Lucy clapped Jellal on the shoulder happily. "Come on. A trip to the beach fixes everything."

"…It'd better," he growled back, though he couldn't for the life of him see how sand and the sea was going to make this day any less of a disaster.

* * *

Erza awoke to the smell of sea air and the sound of waves and laughter. For a while she was content to listen and not move. Her whole body felt heavy, and her eyelids even more so; she had a strong feeling that trying to open them would only worsen her aching head. It was warm in her armour, but not enough so to prompt her to stir, and the refreshing salty breeze felt pleasant upon her cheeks. Beneath her, she could feel the unmistakeable roughness of an old beach towel, and under that, the slats of a plastic sun lounger. She felt comfortable; safe; content; as though she could just lie there and sleep forever.

 _I don't think I'm supposed to be asleep right now,_ she thought suddenly. _I think there's something I should be doing…_

Three memories flashed through her mind in quick succession: mustering up the courage to ask the man she had very confused feelings for to go on a daytrip with her; pacing around her room all night, trying to work out what she would do if it didn't go well, or what on earth she would do if it _did_ ; being so tired she could hardly keep her eyes open on the train…

That was enough to send a sudden wave of horror through her. She sat bolt upright and would have kept falling forwards if a hand hadn't caught her shoulder. "Take it easy, Erza," said a familiar voice.

Glancing around, Erza took note of the palm trees above them, the sea breaking upon the beach only a few metres away, and the two girls sat on the sun lounger adjacent to hers. "Lucy? Juvia?" she wondered, out loud. "Where am I?"

"The beach at Akane Resort," Lucy explained, waving her hand towards the idyllic golden sand and the sea beyond. Both she and Juvia were wearing bikinis. Even Happy was sporting a tiny pair of orange swimming trunks as he soared down towards them and perched on the end of Erza's lounger, having come to check up on her condition.

"What happened?" Erza asked.

"We're not entirely sure, because Siegrain is being evasive, but by the sounds of things, you collapsed on the train. We ran into you two at the station and decided to stick around until we knew you definitely weren't under attack. Through sheer coincidence, we also happened to come to the resort today."

"Where's Siegrain now?"

"Playing volleyball with Natsu and Gray," Happy informed her. He pointed over his shoulder to a net that had been set up a little way along the beach, where one figure stood on each side and a third was dashing back and forth under the net.

"Playing volleyball?" Erza echoed doubtfully, watching as Jellal's deliberately mistimed lunge missed the ball completely and caught Natsu in the face instead. "Looks more like they're trying to kill each other…"

Juvia gave her a strained smile. "Siegrain isn't in a very good mood."

"No prizes for guessing why," Happy sniggered.

"Hey!" Lucy butted in. "Erza, it's not like we _wanted_ to crash your date – but we were worried about you, and we couldn't just leave you alone in case it was the work of a dark mage-"

"Lucy, it's fine," Erza reassured her, with an honest smile. "I'm actually really glad that you're all here. I feel so much calmer knowing that you're nearby. And besides…" She glanced back to the improvised volleyball game in time to see Gray freezing the airborne ball inside a block of ice, which promptly accelerated downwards and crashed on top of Jellal's head. "Natsu and Gray seem to be taking it in their stride, don't you think?"

They all laughed. "Juvia likes it this way," the water mage volunteered. "It's like a triple date."

"Uh, no, it really isn't," Lucy hastened to correct her, while Erza laughed again.

Happy took to the air again to inform the boys that Erza was alright. Their game – or, more accurately, the sight of three half-naked and extremely athletic young men competing against each other on the beach – had drawn no small amount of attention, and they had to push their way through the crowd of onlookers to reach the rest of their party. Natsu and Gray were both grinning broadly. Jellal looked like he wanted to murder someone.

"Erza's awake," Lucy told him, in the hope that it might cheer him up a bit, but all it achieved was to turn his glare towards her instead.

"Just what I wanted," he growled.

Natsu collapsed onto the lounger next to Erza's. "Man, I'm exhausted! What I wouldn't give for the chance to fight you for real, Siegrain…"

"It's hot; let's get some drinks in," Gray suggested.

"Good idea," Jellal agreed, somewhat surprisingly. Then, even more surprisingly, he gestured towards Lucy. "We'll go get them."

"Me?" blinked Lucy.

"I don't mind coming," Erza offered, getting to her feet only to be hit by another wave of dizziness. Though she managed to catch herself before she fell, she wasn't fast enough to stop the others from noticing, and Lucy immediately jumped up in concern.

"No, don't worry, Erza; you stay here and rest until you're feeling stronger. I'll go with Siegrain. What does everyone want?"

Between the two of them, they collected the drinks orders, and then set off towards one of the many refreshment stands on the beach. The moment the others were out of earshot, Lucy discovered precisely why Jellal had wanted her to accompany him.

Having apparently decided that she was the most sensible of the group, he turned to her without a trace of a smile on his face and said, "So, now that we know Erza is alright, how about you and the others go and have your holiday in a different part of the resort?"

"Well, we _would,_ but…"

"But what?"

"Erza said she wanted us to stick around for a bit, and I think it's a good chance for us to all get to know each other a bit better, away from the guildhall. We might not get another opportunity like this, and until Erza's feeling a bit more comfortable, maybe after lunch…"

She tailed off in confusion at Jellal's protracted silence. She had expected him to be angry, or at least exasperated, but he didn't appear to be listening to her at all. He was staring instead at the man stood behind the drinks stand.

Lucy followed his gaze, but couldn't see for the life of her what had attracted his attention. There was nothing familiar about the shopkeeper; he was wearing the same blue and white shirt and shorts as all the resort staff, along with a similarly patterned cap jammed atop untidy hair. The pair of silver pendant earrings, which probably weren't strictly allowed by the dress code, were the only remotely unusual thing about his outfit. His skin was a tanned bronze, possibly the result of working out in the sun all day. There was a small black squiggle of a tattoo just above his jawline, or it might have been a scar; Lucy didn't want to stare in case it was the latter.

He greeted his new customers with a broad smile. "Good morning! And what can I get for…"

It was then that he laid eyes upon Jellal, and his voice inexplicably tailed off. The two of them stared at each other in mutual astonishment. Lucy glanced between them, utterly bemused.

Suddenly, Jellal seized Lucy's arm and dragged her a few paces backwards. "Lucy," he said, matter-of-factly. "It's just occurred to me that I didn't ask Natsu what he wanted to drink."

"Why does this not surprise me?" she returned, exasperated. "Oh yes, I know, it's because you act like a five-year-old whenever Natsu's involved…"

"Well, I've now seen the error of my ways. So run back over there for me and ask him what he wants, okay?"

"…Okay."

Casting one last confused look at the two of them, Lucy headed back along the beach. Only when she was gone did Jellal approach the stand and slam his hands down on the counter.

"What are you doing here?" Jellal demanded of his subordinate and sort-of-friend.

"What are _you_ doing here?" Sho demanded of his boss.

Jellal's eyes flashed. "I asked first."

Sho just gave a defensive shrug. "I work here!" he pointed out.

"No you don't; you work for _me!_ "

"Well, I mean, yeah, we _do,_ but…" He raised his hands in exasperation. "Oh come on, what were we supposed to do? You went off to kidnap Erza and never came back! We thought you were going to be gone a couple of days, tops, but then a week went by and we still hadn't heard from you! You can't possibly have been expecting us to sit around twiddling our thumbs forever! We figured it'd be a better use of our time to come back to our jobs here – you know, earn some money, keep up with current affairs, that sort of thing. I mean, we still go back to the Tower of Heaven occasionally to make sure that everything's still in order, but there's no real need for us to be there all the time now it's complete, is there?"

Jellal was too startled to speak. Prudently deciding to move the conversation on before his boss found his voice, Sho stuck his hands into his pockets, and added, "Why are you here, anyway? I thought you were on a kidnapping mission!"

"It's… a work in progress," Jellal answered evasively. "I ran into some unexpected difficulties, but it's all under control."

"Right." Sho did not sound convinced. "And you've come to a beach resort because…?"

"The plan was to bring Erza here, because it'd be easy to get her from here into the Tower, but a few of her friends turned up, so now I'm just waiting for a good moment to separate them-"

At this, Sho suddenly slammed his own hands down on the counter, mirroring Jellal's intense posture. "Erza's here?"

"…Ah." Jellal had forgotten just how much Erza's former friends hated her for betraying them. Granted, that might have been his fault for feeding them that hatred for eight years, but for it to suddenly surface now, of all times… "Yes, she's here, but-"

"This is perfect!" Sho exclaimed. There was a vicious gleam in his eyes which, on any other day, would have made Jellal proud. "I'm here, and Wally and Millianna are both around somewhere – with all of us working together, kidnapping Erza will be a piece of cake-"

"No!" Jellal snapped.

Sho jumped back as if he had been attacked. "What do you mean, _no?_ "

"No," Jellal repeated, with twice as much force. "Don't touch Erza."

"What the hell, Jellal? Kidnapping Erza is what the past eight years have been about!"

"Kidnapping Erza is _my_ thing, Sho!"

Jellal's heart was hammering. He knew the logical move would be to accept the help of Erza's former friends. He _knew_ that.

But he also knew, with a burning righteous certainty, that the very idea of it was abhorrent. The thought of anyone else interfering in his fight was just so wrong that there were no words to do it justice.

He continued, to make it clear, "I am going to kidnap her in whichever way I like and whenever I see fit, not when someone else wants me to. I will not tolerate anyone getting in the way of my plan… and that includes you. Stay out of this, or there'll be hell to pay."

Sho was shaking his head in disbelief. "Are you even listening to yourself? This is madness! I know Erza's betrayal hit you the hardest of any of us, but we were her friends too, you know? You're not the only one who wants revenge! We have just as much right to kidnap her as you do!"

"And as I promised, there will be plenty of time for you to confront her once she's safely in the Tower of Heaven!" Jellal overrode him furiously. "But if Erza finds out you're here or learns who I really am then everything I've been working towards for the past three weeks will come to nothing! You will not touch her. Erza belongs to _me._ "

"I don't see how we could lose anything from working together-"

Jellal slammed his fist into the counter so hard that he smashed a hole straight through the wood. "Don't come near Erza, or you will find yourself with me as your opponent. Do you understand, Sho?"

He never got to find out if Sho had truly understood the danger behind his words, because at that moment Lucy reappeared, bringing with her an amended drinks order and a whole load of confusion. She glanced between the two men, who were positively glowering at each other, and her eyebrows rose when she saw the damage Jellal had done to the little stall.

"…Is everything alright here?" she ventured.

"Everything's just _fine_ ," Jellal snapped. "You sort out the drinks. I'm going back to the others." And he turned on his heel and strode back across the beach, each footstep throwing up an angry little swarm of sand, and Lucy's exasperated shouts fell upon deaf ears.

He was still in a foul mood when he returned to the Fairy Tail mages, but fortunately for them, his anger had been diverted away from their existence and towards Sho, and that made him slightly more bearable to be around. Brushing off Natsu's complaint about being deliberately left out of the first drinks round, he sat down next to Erza. Neither of them said anything at first. They watched Gray and Natsu's sandcastle-building competition in silence.

Then he felt a light touch upon his shoulder. Erza wasn't looking at him, instead staring so avidly at Gray's four-turreted castle that it seemed she was trying to help Natsu win by burning a hole in it with her gaze. But her attention was fixed on him and him alone.

"I'm sorry about earlier," she offered; kind and remorseful and tender. She was always so sincere around him. "For falling asleep on the train, and forcing you to look after me…" Now she looked directly at him, and her earnest, captivating eyes told him that she meant every word. "I'm really sorry."

 _She's mine,_ he thought savagely. _I'm not letting anyone else have her. Not now, and not ever._

And he knew he had made the right decision in not letting Sho in on his plan.

"It's alright," he said, with a shrug. "These things happen. I'm just glad it didn't turn out to be anything serious."

After a moment, her face relaxed into a grateful smile. Before she could say anything, however, Lucy arrived, carrying a packed tray of exotic fruit juices and shooting Jellal an annoyed look that he conceded he fully deserved. She began to distribute the drinks around the group.

That done, she clapped her hands together. "Right, then. Now that we're all here, what are we going to do?"

Well, since they were apparently refusing to leave him and Erza alone, Jellal first had to come up with some sort of plan to lure her away from the others-

Erza had other ideas. "We're at the beach," she said, matter-of-factly. "So naturally we're going to swim in the sea."

She stood up, placed her hands on her hips, and then her armour vanished in a swirl of light, to be replaced by an elegant indigo bikini. The others were voicing their approval of Erza's suggestion, but Jellal was no longer listening. He was still stuck at the part where she had switched outfits.

She was only standing there as before – it wasn't as though she was doing anything out of the ordinary. Nor was she the only one in swimwear. Lucy and Juvia were both in bikinis, and there was no shortage of heads turning for them. But Erza – she was in another league entirely. Her body, her curves, her breasts, her smile, her shining eyes, her vibrant hair; tall and proud and radiating an easy confidence. The happiness she was projecting was all the armour she needed, chasing away the spectres of memory.

Lucy nudged him and he jumped a mile. "What?" he snapped peevishly.

"You're making it a little obvious," she told him, grinning.

"What do you mean?"

"She's only going to get nervous if you keep gaping at her like that."

"You never know," Juvia interrupted. "Juvia wishes that Gray would stare at _her_ like that…" Then, as if realizing she had said that out loud, she cast a worried glance at Jellal to check that he wasn't going to start mocking her like he had earlier – or worse, bring up what had happened that morning.

As usual, he had other things on his mind, and that only went double when Erza turned to him and demanded, "Aren't you going to put on a swimsuit too?"

"No," he said flatly.

"Why not?"

"I didn't bring one."

Erza's expression became one of sheer horror. "Why on earth did you come to the beach without swimwear?"

 _Because right now, Erza, you and I are supposed to be resurrecting my evil god and ending the world, not frolicking around on the beach,_ he thought angrily. But since he couldn't share this perfectly valid reason with the others, he was forced to give a shrug and glare at the ground.

"Well, you can't come all the way to the beach and not go in the ocean at all," Erza said, as though it was a crime on par with the apocalyptic slaughter he was planning. "Desperate times call for desperate measures. Right – Siegrain, you and I are going to hire a jet ski."

"We're- _what?_ "

"This way," she ordered cheerfully, seizing his arm and marching off along the beach in a whirl of sand. "There's a little jetty over there that has them for hire…"

The rest of the Fairy Tail mages exchanged glances. "Well, if we're doing this, I guess we might as well go all out," suggested Gray.

"True," agreed Lucy. "Juvia, how about you and I go and rent a jet ski too?"

Juvia looked at her in surprise. When Lucy nodded encouragingly, the water mage cast a sideways glance at Gray. But rather than saying anything to him, she closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and then smiled. "Juvia would like that," she said, and the two girls set off after Erza and Jellal.

"Aww, that's so sweet," Gray remarked. "Lucy's really making an effort to get to know Juvia and make her feel at home in our guild."

"Actually, Gray," Happy snickered, "I think Lucy just didn't want to be stuck on a jet ski with Natsu."

"…Ah."

The crashing of the distant waves was not quite enough to drown out Natsu's pitiful wail. "Please don't make me…"

Gray put his head in his hands. "I guess I'll be sitting this one out, then."

* * *

 _ **A/N:** And Jellal's problems are only just beginning. Not all that much going on this week, but next week should make up for that. Thanks for reading! ~CS_


	17. Role Reversal

**Kidnapping Erza**

By CrimsonStarbird

* * *

 **Chapter Seventeen: Role Reversal**

If Jellal hadn't previously been convinced that Erza's plan to hire a jet ski was a terrible one, then their arrival at the appropriate jetty settled the matter.

It wasn't the slightly dubious look the attendant shot Erza that did it. Nor was it the sign warning customers against hiring vehicles if they were on (or had, unbeknownst to them, recently come off) drowsiness-inducing medication. It wasn't even the way Erza casually brushed off all the questions about whether she was qualified to drive such a vehicle, skipped over the safety briefing, and pulled Jellal over to the largest and most powerful jet ski available.

No, it was when Jellal's glance around for a means of escape happened to fall on the jetty next to theirs – or, to be more precise, on the girl stood at the end of it, chatting amicably to a sailor. She was wearing a bikini, deep violet against her tanned skin, and she had thrown a lightweight jacket in the blue and white colours of Akane Resort's staff uniform over her top half to protect her shoulders from the sun. A black bandana, which he had a sneaking suspicion might have born a white skull-and-crossbones on the front, sat cheerfully upon her short brown hair. She had her back to him, but Jellal knew immediately who it was. There was only one person he had ever met who would stick cat ears on top of a pirate bandana.

He supposed he shouldn't be surprised. Sho was here, so it made sense that Millianna would be too. Undoubtedly Wally and Simon would also be around, helping out wherever the resort needed an extra pair of hands during the busy summer period. If Millianna knew that Erza was here, would she react in the same way as Sho? Probably. They all hated Erza too much to pass up a chance to confront her. If only he'd known his whole 'make them loyal by blaming everything on Erza for eight years' plan was going to backfire so spectacularly…

"Siegrain, come on!"

He tore his attention away from Millianna – who, with any luck, wouldn't turn around until they were long gone – and turned to Erza. She was sat astride a sleek and mighty jet ski, bold green and sporty black, bobbing gently up and down next to the jetty. Even Jellal, who had no use for magic-propelled vehicles when not even the fastest yet invented could keep up with him, could see why she had been drawn to it. The part of him that remained a member of the Magic Council wondered how much insuring something so impressive for renting out to the public must have cost – or how much Erza had paid for the privilege.

Yet by the looks of things, every jewel had been well spent. Excitement sparkled in her eyes. Her right hand rested eagerly upon the trigger throttle; with the other, she patted the black seat behind her, where there was room for one more rider.

Stealing one last envious glance at the safety of the beach, Jellal clambered on board, trying and failing to make himself comfortable. It was no easy task when he was constantly aware of how close she was. He couldn't help wondering how he was supposed to maintain this position at high speed.

"Hold on," Erza instructed.

"…To _what?_ "

"To me, obviously."

There was no time to ask for clarification as Erza gave the throttle an overly enthusiastic squeeze. If he hadn't instinctively grabbed her as the jet ski sprung to life, he'd have been left behind. The craft shot forwards with a roar that drowned out the attendant's horrified shout, and the next thing he knew, the jetty was far behind them and they were racing through the sea's gentle swell.

Erza let out a cry of delight that didn't quite mirror how Jellal was feeling inside. As far as he was concerned, having to cling on for dear life put something of a downer on the situation. How was anyone supposed to enjoy an activity that held them only one overeager acceleration away from being plunged into the sea?

As if Erza could sense this, however, she eased up on the accelerator, instead turning them left then right in great sweeping curves to test out the limits of the jet ski's control. He was more willing to concede that the wind felt pleasant against his skin when it wasn't threatening to hurl him overboard.

They were out in the open water now. Sunlight scattered from the crests of little rippling waves; the wake they left behind them blazed like it was lined with diamonds. A rainbow haze of spray shimmered in the air, giving the whole scene an otherworldly radiance. All around them, soft sapphire waves; above them, the cloudless azure sky – just the two of them in this serene blue world.

At last Jellal felt calm enough to release his death-grip on Erza. Still, she hadn't complained about the way he had grabbed her in panic. And when he thought about it, there really was no other way for the person at the back to hold on, especially when the driver had Erza's tendency to accelerate without warning. With that in mind, he shifted into a more comfortable position and carefully wrapped both arms around her, holding her gently. When she didn't comment on that either, he finally allowed himself to relax.

 _When we get a bit further away from the shore,_ he thought optimistically, _I'll easily be able to lift her up into the sky from here and fly her straight to the Tower of Heaven._

He closed his eyes. It felt as though Erza's smooth skin had captured the sunlight and was radiating its warmth back to him.

 _Well, this is nice too. Maybe I'll wait until we're back on land before kidnapping her._

However, as he had learned long ago – and then been forcibly reminded of every single day for the past three weeks – fortune was a fickle mistress. As if in response to his thoughts, his ears registered the sound of a second jet ski engine. Leaning away from Erza, he raised a hand to shield his eyes from the sun and squinted at the black shape rapidly gaining on them. He hoped it was just Lucy and Juvia catching up with them, but unless one of those two had developed an obsessive love of cats in the last five minutes, those pointy silhouetted ears were not a good sign.

 _What mad world is this, where I'd rather see two Fairy Tail mages than my own subordinates?_ Jellal wondered dryly.

By contrast, Millianna looked thrilled to see him. She was waving at him wildly, standing up with perfect confidence astride her professional staff jet ski – he had a sneaking suspicion that she, like Sho, had been spending a little too much time at the beach when she should have been guarding his world-destroying weapon. The last thing he wanted right now was for her and Erza to meet. Fortunately, Erza was too busy learning to steer her own jet ski to have noticed the approach of the second, and if he could just keep things that way…

He gestured frantically back to Millianna, trying to indicate that she should return to the shore. She did not. Either she wasn't fluent in the language of improvised gesticulation, or she was plain ignoring him, but the gap between their vehicles continued to close.

She pointed at him, then at Erza, and then waved her hand towards the open sea, where the Tower of Heaven lay. He shook his head vehemently, pointing at her and then at the beach, and repeating for emphasis. Her turn to shake her head, indicating Erza and the Tower once again.

Jellal let out a low growl. _You leave your evil cult alone for three weeks, and they forget the difference between a request and an order,_ he reflected, and he wished he wasn't currently pretending to be a law-abiding councillor so that he could remind Millianna precisely why he was the one in charge.

They were riding almost parallel now, Millianna expertly holding her craft steady a few metres away from theirs. The fury with which she was glaring at Erza left no doubt as to her intentions. Jellal could see the shimmer of magic building up around her raised hand.

 _Don't you dare,_ he thought ferociously. _Don't you dare attack Erza without my permission!_

Alas, Millianna seemed no better at mind-reading than interpreting wild gestures. She summoned a writhing orange tube to her hand and sent it snaking towards Erza. Jellal cursed. He couldn't let it hit, but if he used his own magic to retaliate, Erza would realize they were under attack, and then she'd recognize their opponent and it would all be over for him-

With a roar of sound and a burst of spray, a third jet ski appeared between them. Its rider's deft hand snatched the magical tube out of the air.

"Juvia doesn't know what you're playing at," the water mage called defiantly, as she wrapped the tube firmly around her hand. "But she won't let your dangerous driving harm her friends!"

For a moment the scene was frozen: Juvia, fearlessly steering the jet ski with one hand and pinning Millianna's weapon with the other; Lucy, her passenger, clinging on behind and staring at the tableau in astonishment; Millianna, scowling at the newcomers with a worrying anger in her eyes.

"More of Erza's friends," she muttered, and then she gave a sharp twist on the handlebars and her jet ski veered away from the other two. The tube stretched taut; with a cry, Juvia was pulled straight into the sea. She plunged beneath the surface and vanished as Millianna's tube disintegrated into sparks of magic.

The lacrima powering the girls' jet ski cut out abruptly at the dismount of its driver. "Juvia!" Lucy shrieked, struggling to find her balance as the craft pitched in the choppy water. "I can't see her anywhere-!"

"She'll be fine!" Jellal yelled across to her. "Her body is made of water; it is literally impossible for her to drown!"

"Right," Lucy muttered sheepishly. She gave the now-vacant driver's seat of her jet ski a dubious look. "So how do I…?"

Jellal immediately lost interest in her plight, however, as Erza demanded, "Siegrain, what's going on?"

"Lucy and Juvia ran into some trouble," he replied, watching carefully as Millianna circled back round towards them. "But they're fine. Say, Erza, can I drive for a bit?"

"…Why?" she asked suspiciously.

"Because you've been driving for ages, and I want a go."

Concluding that there was nothing out of the ordinary about his selfishness, Erza shrugged. "If you're sure."

She let the watercraft come to a stop, or as much of a stop as the waves would allow, and, with great care, the two of them managed to exchange places without falling in. Jellal rested his hands upon the handlebars. He could feel the power throbbing within the watercraft – both in the vibrating of the engine beneath him, and in the faint buzzing against his mind of the lacrima within it. As soon as Erza was holding on to him securely, he hit the throttle and they lurched into action, accelerating away from Millianna as fast as the engine could manage.

"See, it's quite easy to control, isn't it?" Erza chatted away happily.

"Mmm." The watercraft was indeed cutting through the waves quite nicely, but it wasn't achieving the elegance or the speed he had been hoping for. Even worse, he was certain Millianna had been moving much faster than this. He risked a brief glance over his shoulder. Sure enough, she was gaining, and he couldn't see Lucy's jet ski anywhere.

"Siegrain," Erza murmured, and her voice was suddenly serious. "Are we being chased?"

"No," he said automatically.

"Are you sure? It looks to me like that other rider is heading straight for us at high speed, and you seem to be quite worried about them…"

"You're imagining things. Look, just because Fairy Tail mages are magnets for trouble doesn't mean you should treat every perfectly innocent, extreme-sports-loving rider as a potential villain. On a completely unrelated note, doesn't this jet ski go any faster?"

He could feel her suspicious gaze burning into the back of his head.

"It's a purely hypothetical question," he assured her. "Only, I can't get it to go above forty miles per hour, even though the dial goes all the way up to ninety."

"There's a safety limiter on the lacrima. The man at the jetty explained it. It caps the power flow to the engine so that novice riders can't accidentally reach dangerous speeds."

That made sense. Like many vehicles, the jet ski was designed so that the engine was fed by the magic power stored within a lacrima, meaning that mages and non-mages alike could operate it. The limiter was probably standard practice for rental vehicles. Undoubtedly Millianna's watercraft, being for staff use only, didn't have one, hence the discrepancy in their speeds.

On one hand, Jellal could easily circumvent the limiter by overriding the lacrima source and feeding the jet ski's engine directly with his own magic power. On the other, there was probably a good reason why they had capped the speed for beginners.

Erza persisted, "Siegrain, I think we _are_ being chased."

"Just because that tourist happens to be going in the same direction as us? Coincidence."

"…There's a skull and crossbones on her bandana."

"Yeah, but she's also wearing a bikini and cat ears, so unless this is some new trend in piracy that has hitherto escaped the notice of the Council, I think it's still more likely that she's just an overenthusiastic tourist."

Neither of them spoke for moment. Jellal tried to think of a better way out of this situation and failed miserably.

"You know," Erza reflected, "I had a friend once who was obsessed with cats. She's the kind who would wear cat ears with everything, even a pirate outfit."

"There are a lot of strange people in the world," Jellal said neutrally, coming to a decision. "Hold on tight. I'm overriding the limiter."

"Don't!" Erza shouted, but it was too late. He had already found the engine's core with his mind, forced open a connection, and poured his own power into it.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then, above the waves, above the wind, above even the engine's purr, there came the unmistakeable crack of splintering crystal as the lacrima overloaded and tore itself apart.

"Hear that?" asked Erza dolefully. "That's the sound of my deposit shattering."

Any further sarcastic comments were lost as the engine awoke with a sudden snarl. The jet ski launched itself forwards, skipping across the water's surface and almost flipping straight over. Erza's arms tightened reflexively around him. He refused to relinquish his grip on the throttle as the speedometer's needle shot round towards the maximum.

"Now _this_ is more like it," Jellal marvelled. Outrunning Millianna should be a piece of cake with this much horsepower at his disposal. All he had to do was beat her back to the shore and-

He tried to steer the nose of the jet ski towards the beach, and oversteered. He tried to correct it, and overcorrected. The vehicle swung wildly back and forth, almost hurling them both overboard. Panicking, he released his grip on the throttle completely, but without power there was no jet flow and with no jet flow there was no means of turning the craft. It lunged forwards completely out of his control until the water could drag it to a halt, fortunate indeed that there had been nothing around to collide with.

If there was one good thing about his unexpected deceleration, it was that it had taken Millianna by surprise. She had sped up when he had and now hurtled past them as a colourful blur, far too quickly for Erza to recognize her. That thought made the embarrassment of losing control of the jet ski while Erza was watching slightly more bearable.

"Siegrain!"

A new voice, this one male, called to them from across the waves. Lucy had finally found a way of driving the third jet ski – namely, by summoning Loke and getting him to do it for her. The Lion Spirit looked completely at home upon the sleek watercraft, wearing brightly coloured swimming trunks and a cool pair of shades to match; Lucy was waving at them from the seat behind.

"Best to stay on the throttle," Loke advised him. "You can't turn otherwise. It's more stable than it looks when it comes to holding its direction; you'll get the hang of it. Also, fix your balance by using the trim."

"Using the what now?"

"The trim – the settings on the left hand side there. Essentially, up for more speed, down for more control. You'll have to find the best balance yourself, though."

Jellal must have looked dubious, because Lucy hastily promised, "He knows what he's talking about, trust me."

"My previous owner's guild was big on anything that provided an excuse for its members to strip down and show off," grinned Loke. "Water sports fell into that category. I picked up a few tips during my time there."

"…Alright," Jellal said, with a curt nod. "I think I understand."

His gaze drifted across the glittering water, their most unusual battlefield, to where Millianna was pulling her jet ski out of its own sweeping arc. He reopened his mental connection with the vehicle; energy pulsed like an electric shock between his right palm and the humming throttle. The fingers of his left hand rested upon the trim controls.

As his subordinate and temporary enemy charged directly towards them, preparing to try and bind Erza with her magic once more, Jellal's jet ski burst to life. He wasn't running this time – he and Erza were heading straight for their opponent. Faster and faster, closer and closer; neither he nor Millianna showed the first sign of backing down.

The instant she took her left hand off the handlebars to call her magic, Jellal made his move. This time, his control was perfect: just deep enough in the water to gain sufficient traction, his jet ski veered off to the right, throwing up a sheet of water between the two of them. His sudden action, combined with the concealing wall of water, made her attack go wide – while simultaneously hiding her obviously hostile intentions from the watching Fairy Tail mages. By the time she emerged from the other side, drenched and even angrier than before, he was skimming across the water in the direction of the beach.

But he had a mere handful of seconds in the clear before Millianna was there again. She came out of nowhere, swooping in from the side at an impossible speed; if not for his battle-honed reflexes, turning them aside at the last minute, the two jet skis might have collided then and there.

This time, he wasn't the only one who noticed the near-miss. "You're not still insisting we're not under attack, surely?" Erza demanded.

"Not under attack, as such," he returned evasively. "But you know how these extreme sports fanatics can get. The adrenaline gets to their heads, and they don't realize that ordinary people just want to go about their holiday activities in peace. She probably thinks we're finding these near-misses just as fun as she is."

They looped around each other again, coming within inches of another collision. Dodging was hard enough; dodging while maintaining a high enough speed to prevent Erza from getting a good look at their opponent required Jellal's full concentration.

Loke and Lucy, who were watching this deadly waterborne ballet from a safe distance, exchanged worried glances. "I'll admit he's got a good instinct for it," Loke observed. "But it's his first time. He can't compete against that girl's skill and experience on a level playing field."

"Then it's our job to skew the playing field in his favour," Lucy said. "Loke, I need you to go back for a bit, okay?"

"Sure. Good luck."

The engine of the watercraft died as Loke returned to his own world, leaving Lucy to find her balance in the turbulence created by the combatants. The Celestial Spirit mage closed her eyes, crossed her fingers, screwed up her courage, and opened Aquarius's gate.

Contrary to her expectations, however, the Mermaid Spirit appeared to be in an uncharacteristically good mood. Hefting her urn confidently onto her shoulder, she remarked, "Is it that pervert again?" Her eyes settled upon the two battling jet skis and a sinister grin – one usually reserved for when she was watching Lucy being washed away – crept across her face. "Oh, hello there. No more narrow escapes for you, my friend – this time I'll wash you away for sure."

Lucy gulped. "Actually, Aquarius, we sort of need to help him this time. He's on our side."

"Huh?" Aquarius snarled. Lucy flinched as the Spirit rounded on her. "Siding with creepy perverts, now, are you?"

"He's really not that bad…" she tried in vain.

"Maybe I should wash you away too, just for good measure, huh?"

"I- I'd rather you didn't…"

Aquarius wasn't interested in her excuses. She raised her urn to summon forth the tidal wave that would sweep away her owner – only for something sleek and silver to leap out of the water and snatch the urn straight out of her hands. Lucy's first bizarre thought was that it must have been a dolphin, but not even dolphins were that elegant. Besides, the more she stared, the more that arcing silver blur seemed to take on the form of a human body – a body made entirely of water.

"Juvia will be borrowing this!" declared the water mage, diving back into the sea with Aquarius's urn in her hands.

The Water-Bearer Spirit was left spluttering indignantly. "But… but… that's… you can't do that-!"

Lucy too was in shock at Juvia's audacity. On one hand, it was easy for Juvia to take such a risk, because _she_ wasn't the one Aquarius was inevitably going to get mad at. Yet, on the other, she could sense not only Aquarius's formidable power through the golden key she held, but Juvia's too – and the resolve she needed to fuse her magic with that of Lucy's Spirit and take control of the situation.

If Jellal noticed what was going on between the two girls and the outraged Spirit, he gave no sign. All his attention was focussed on his opponent. Like Loke, he too had noticed that he was outclassed when it came to jet-ski-driving skills. It was all he could do just to stay one step ahead of Millianna.

They were racing towards each other again – and then, from nowhere, an enormous wave rose up from the calm sea between them, towering over them both.

In that moment, when another man might have frozen at the sudden danger, what jumped into Jellal's mind wasn't fear or confusion, but the advice Loke had given him: stay on the throttle. Rather than cautiously slowing down, he accelerated into the turn, picking up speed as they rode along the wave.

They were shooting horizontally along a near-vertical wall of water now. His knees had an iron grip on the seat and Erza was clinging to him tightly, her face buried into his back – and then they were safely out the other end and skimming back along the ocean's surface as the great wave crashed down upon itself.

Millianna had also escaped the wave, but only by riding along it in the opposite direction, which gave Jellal plenty of time to assess the situation before she caught up again. He glimpsed Juvia racing across the surface in her water form, nimbly avoiding the attacks of an irate flying mermaid, while Lucy tried to make herself as unnoticeable as possible despite being stranded atop an immobile jet ski. It was probably a mark of how accustomed Jellal had become to being around Fairy Tail mages that he took this bizarre scene in his stride.

Juvia caught his eye and gave him a nervous thumbs-up, and it was then that he understood. He couldn't match Millianna's riding expertise – none of them could. But he _could_ compete at her level. He was far more accustomed to fighting at these speeds than she was, because he did it all the time in the air with his magic, and that gave him an opportunity. It was just a matter of adapting his skills to this new situation.

When he flew, the magic took his desires – speed, acceleration, directional control, momentum – and made them happen. This was no different. He already had the instinct he needed to outride Millianna. All he had to do was take those intentions, and convert them, through the medium of throttle and steering and trim and wake and the engine resonating with his power, into action. And though Millianna's experience as a sailor gave her an understanding of the battlefield that he was lacking, he had Juvia on his side – and if she was willing to put aside the fact that she had yelled at him only that morning and help him out here, he sure as hell wasn't going to be the one who let the side down.

A dark grin crossed Jellal's face. "Let's do this."

"I don't suppose," Erza ventured from behind him, "That by 'this' you mean 'ride back to the shore and report an instance of dangerous driving to the lifeguard', do you?"

"Where would be the fun in that?" he retorted.

The wind snatched away her undoubtedly exasperated reply as he squeezed the throttle and they pounced forwards once again. Immediately an unnatural tidal wave emerged in front of him. He embraced the challenge, using it to turn a sharp banked corner, which reversed his direction instantly. Caught by surprise, Millianna missed them and ploughed straight through the falling wave. She attacked again, with a bolt of energy this time, but he was already well clear, and the blast struck the sea harmlessly.

The mage-turned-cat-pirate changed tactics. Circling around the outside of the battlefield, she suddenly seized her moment and shot towards them, summoning her magic-negating tube once more. It looped around the handlebars of Lucy's jet ski and Millianna gripped the other end tightly, so that it stretched at chest-height across Jellal's path.

An instant before he collided with it, Juvia was there, nipping underneath Aquarius's wild tail-swing and thrusting the urn out in front of her. Jellal's jet ski launched from the top of her wave, clearing the tube by inches.

They landed, not by diving with the nose, but by hitting the water with the rear-end first. They plunged through the surface until both he and Erza were half-submerged, and in that instant Jellal used the drag to wrench the nose of the jet ski around in an impossibly tight circle. Buoyancy pushed the back end up, gravity pulled the front end down; the jet ski's nose caught the taut tube and brought it crashing back down into the water with them.

Lucy's craft immediately capsized. Millianna's almost went the same way, but she released her hold on the tube in the nick of time and managed to stay upright. Jellal didn't stick around, hitting the accelerator again and shooting them forward with an explosion of water.

"Hey, this is pretty fun. I think I can see now where these extreme sports fanatics are coming from," Jellal remarked, apparently forgetting that he had completely made that story up. Erza's arms tightened briefly around him, which he decided to interpret as a sign of agreement rather than fear of his dangerous driving. If there was one good thing about being stuck in Fairy Tail rather than any other guild, it was that all his colleagues could take this sort of recklessness in their stride.

"Jellal!" Millianna screamed, as she set off in pursuit of them once more. Fortunately, Lucy was also yelling furiously at him as she struggled to haul herself back onto the jet ski, and Aquarius was laughing loudly at her owner's predicament, so Jellal didn't think Erza had heard his real name being called over the racket.

With Millianna rapidly gaining, he shouted over the water, "Juvia, now!"

Like a classical goddess, the water mage burst out of the ocean bearing Aquarius's urn high above her head. She pivoted atop the crest of a wave, summoning one last gigantic tsunami to rise up in front of Jellal. "Hang on, Erza," he instructed her, and he forced as much power as he could into the vehicle beneath them.

Then they were no longer moving horizontally, but vertically, and the wind was tearing at his hair and the cool spray was buffeting his face and Erza's arms were around him and there was an incomparable soaring adrenaline rising within him. He couldn't help but give a whoop of sheer joy as they broke through the foam at the crest of the wave and flipped backwards through the air.

As they sailed over the astonished Millianna's head, Jellal reached up – towards the earth – to seize hold of her jacket's collar, and he plucked her straight off her jet ski. Her craft ploughed into the ramp of water, spluttered, and capsized as the engine died, and he used the momentum of their flight to fling her across the water.

Then he and Erza were the right way round again just in time to hit the ocean's surface. They burst through the remnants of the wall of water and spun to a halt as Juvia let the last of the great waves die down.

Now that they were safe and stationary, Erza relinquished her grip on him. "Show off," she whispered in his ear, and he laughed again.

Juvia approached them cautiously. Her translucent liquid torso protruded from the waves, maintaining just enough of its physical form for them to make out her features, while her bottom half was merged completely with the ocean. She still had Aquarius's urn tucked under one arm. There was an anxious look on her face as she glanced at Jellal; she was clearly still hung up on their encounter in the early hours of that morning.

But he just said, "Good work," and held up his hand.

After a moment's hesitation, she returned his high-five. "You too," she smiled. She turned to Aquarius, holding out the urn and giving a deep, apologetic bow. "Juvia is really sorry that she stole your urn. She was only trying to help her friends."

The Celestial Spirit harrumphed as she took back the urn and set it firmly upon her shoulder. "Don't do it again," she growled. "I don't care how impressive your water magic is. I'll wash you into next week." After a brief moment of surprise, Juvia couldn't help smiling again.

Aquarius continued, "And as for _you,_ you sorry excuse for an owner…"

Lucy, who had given up trying to figure out how to drive the jet ski and was currently approaching the others by leaning over the side and paddling, gulped as the Spirit's attention turned towards her. "I don't really see how this is _my_ fault…" she tried hopefully.

Well, it looked like the Fairy Tail mages were back to their usual antics now that the danger had passed. Job done. Satisfied, Jellal stood up astride the jet ski. "I'll meet you back at the shore," he said to Erza, and then he took to the air in a blaze of golden light.

It didn't take him long to find Millianna's thrashing form. He swooped down and fished her out of the water with one arm, ignoring her protests, and soared back towards land. Finding an empty jetty, he landed neatly and deposited her onto the ground.

There she remained, dripping onto the sun-warmed wood, as he put his hands on his hips and demanded, "What on earth do you think you're doing?"

Millianna pulled off her bandana and began wringing water out of it. "Kidnapping Erza, as per the plan," she shot back.

"No," he corrected her, a dangerous lilt to his voice. "The plan was for _me_ to kidnap Erza. Me!"

"Well, you're not doing a very good job of it, are you?"

"I'm doing a _great_ job. These things take time, that's all. And they're not helped by you and your friends taking it upon yourselves to interfere with my work!"

" _You're_ the one who's not helping here," she countered, shaking back her sodden hair and looking up at him defiantly. "We could easily have taken Erza out on the water just now if you hadn't fought against me! Why were you protecting her?"

"It wasn't a good time for a kidnap!"

"Jellal, there was no one else in sight until her friends showed up. The situation couldn't possibly have been any better!"

"I wasn't ready!"

"What do you mean, you weren't ready?"

"You can't just spring kidnapping attempts on me like that! I had my mind on other things! Your spontaneity is ruining the very strict schedule I'm working to!"

"…Right," she said, utterly unconvinced by his flustered protests. "If this schedule of yours has taken three weeks without producing any results, I think it's better off being ruined."

"Look," Jellal growled. "Who's in charge of the Tower of Heaven: you, or me?"

"You are," she admitted, though the scowl on her face seemed to suggest she wasn't entirely happy with that arrangement.

"That's right. So, we're doing things my way. I am the one who is going to kidnap Erza. I am doing it how I want and when I want, not when you want me to, and certainly not right this moment, while I'm busy with… other things. You, and Sho, and Wally and Simon if they're also lurking around here somewhere, are all going to stay well out of my way until I call you to the Tower of Heaven, alright?"

"And how long's that going to take? Another three weeks? We've waited long enough!" Millianna wrapped the bandana back around her hair and glared up at him with a mutinous expression that did full justice to its skull and crossbones design. "You're not the only one Erza betrayed, Jellal. If you're going to keep coming in between us and our revenge-"

"No," he snarled, and all of a sudden there was a very real danger in his eyes. "No. You do _not_ try to threaten me." His magic came alive with his fury; the air around him seethed with raw power. "I am willing to let the fact that you attacked me earlier slide, because I don't think Erza noticed anything suspicious. I am even prepared to overlook the fact that you're all hanging around in this resort when I specifically told you to look after the Tower of Heaven. However, if you dare make another move against Erza without my permission-"

An unfamiliar shout interrupted before he could finish his threat: "What's going on here?"

A middle-aged man was sprinting along the jetty towards them. The silver badge clipped to his Akane Resort uniform identified him as the resort's water sports manager. "Millianna? We received a report that someone was fighting-"

That was when his gaze fell upon Jellal – and the terrifying aura of power he was projecting. He stopped in his tracks. "Uh… hello, sir."

"Are you the one in charge here?" Jellal snapped.

"I… I suppose you could say that…" came the nervous response.

"Good. I'd like to register a formal complaint about this girl's dangerous jet ski driving. Someone would have been badly hurt if she'd carried on like that. Probably her."

"I… uh… okay…"

"You should strongly consider suspending her for the rest of the day. Keep her away from the beach. It might stop her from doing anything else _stupid_ ," he shot over his shoulder, as he shoved his hands into his pockets and strode off.

* * *

When Jellal caught up with the others, they were busy filling Natsu, Gray and Happy in on all the action they'd missed. Gray looked envious; Natsu just looked queasy.

Lucy was saying, "I never thought they'd be able to take off with two people on board, let alone actually complete a backflip, but they somehow pulled it off!"

"They probably wouldn't have done if you'd been one of the passengers," Happy sniggered.

"Yes, alright, thank you for that completely unnecessary remark…"

Spotting Jellal's approach, Juvia asked him, "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah. I talked to the water sports manager, and that girl was a known troublemaker around here, so we're cool."

"Good," Lucy commented. "Let's hope we can get through the rest of our daytrip without any more incidents."

That was wishful thinking if Jellal had ever heard it, given the unique ability of Fairy Tail mages to attract trouble, but he decided to stay quiet and not tempt fate any further.

Lucy continued, "So, what were you three up to while we were out on the ocean?"

"We had a hole-digging contest," Gray told her, with a pride that, in Jellal's opinion, that sentence certainly did not deserve.

"…I don't see any holes," Lucy pointed out, glancing around their shady little glade.

"Ah, but that's the point." Natsu took over the explanation, again with far too much enthusiasm for a normal person given the subject matter. "You try to make them look like patches of shadow, or much shallower holes, or you hide them behind mini sand dunes or sandcastle façades, and then you get points every time someone falls into one."

"That sounds like a health and safety hazard if I've ever heard one," muttered Lucy. "Wouldn't you say so, Mister Councillor?"

But to her surprise, Jellal wasn't listening. His attention was fixed on a patch of shadows behind two crossed palm trees, where he thought he had seen something glittering – the flash of sunlight on metal. It was probably just someone's jewellery catching the sun, but Jellal had enemies everywhere. Besides, in both his lines of work, it was always better to be safe than sorry…

"Hmm?" he replied distractedly to Lucy's question. "What did you say?"

"Nothing, nothing. So, who's winning this competition so far?"

"Currently, we both have zero points," answered Gray.

"Yeah, we were watching each other dig, so we know where all the holes are," Natsu resumed, grinning. "But now that you lot are back, I can see a load of points heading my way!"

"...Remind me again why I'm friends with you two?" Lucy groaned.

"So, what are we going to do next?" Happy inquired.

Jellal folded his arms. "Well, I don't care about you lot, but Erza and I are-"

"Hang on." Gray raised his hand for silence, cutting off Jellal's vain attempt to get Erza on her own. "It's practically lunchtime. Wouldn't it make more sense for us to stick together for lunch? It's much easier barbecuing in a big group."

"Why do we have to have a barbecue?" protested Jellal. "The resort has loads of restaurants-"

"You _have_ to have a barbecue when you're at the beach," Erza assured him. "There's no point in being here otherwise. We can go to a restaurant any day."

"But we don't have anything to barbecue! Or, for that matter, _a barbecue!_ "

"There's a stall over by the docks that sells freshly caught fish," Juvia pointed out helpfully. "They've already prepared it for grilling."

"And the resort has a little garage where you can hire barbecues for a couple of hours," Natsu chimed in.

"Failing that," interjected Gray, "We can always just use you, Natsu."

"Hey!"

 _Why does everyone always side against me?_ Jellal thought to himself, and scowled.

"Are you alright with this plan?" Erza asked him softly. "I really think it'll be fun. Just for the barbecue, you know, and we could always go out another day, if you wanted to…"

No, he wasn't okay with it, but now that she had asked him directly – and with such hope – how was he supposed to object? "I… oh, alright. But let's at least do this properly. Natsu and Gray, go and get us a barbecue. Juvia, Lucy, and Happy – you go and buy some fish to cook, since you seem to know about that sort of thing. And Erza and I will-"

But they would never find out what excuse for separating Erza from them he had come up with this time, because at that moment he stepped forwards and his foot went straight into a hole. He fell into Erza and she fell into Lucy and they all went down in an explosion of sand, shouts, and expletives.

"Hey, Gray!" Happy called. "It looks like Siegrain's found one of your holes!"

"Triple K.O.! Three points to me!"

"Heh, you're so dead," Natsu sniggered.

Yet Jellal wasn't looking at Gray – not even in the promise of merciless revenge. He was looking straight ahead to where, a few feet in front of him, there was a small pink cube half-buried in the sand.

A small pink cube that had just shot straight through the air where Erza had been standing before he'd knocked her over.

A small pink cube that was even now dissolving into sparks of light and dispersing into the air. An instant later, the evidence that anyone had attempted to shoot Erza with a sleep-magic-laden block bullet was gone.

 _Well,_ Jellal supposed, with a sigh, _If there's one advantage of a mutiny, it's that at least I know what kinds of magic my enemies are going to use against me. I'm the one who taught them those little tricks in the first place._

So rather than doing what everyone expected – namely, jump to his feet and begin skinning Gray alive – he shot off towards the crossed palm trees in a blaze of golden light. He snagged the offending sniper by his tie and dragged him along until they were well out of earshot of the others.

"Jellal-!" Wally exclaimed in shock, as his boss dumped him unceremoniously onto the sand. The oddly cubic man's gun was still in his hand, and as if that wasn't enough to mark him out as unusual, he was also the only person Jellal could think of who would wear a suit to the beach.

"Shut up," Jellal snapped, before the same argument he had just had with Sho and Millianna could repeat for a third time. "I'll say to you the same thing I just told the others. _I'm_ kidnapping Erza. You stay out of it. If you try to interfere, I'll fight you with everything I have. Understood?" He cast a quick glance over his shoulder to check that none of the Fairy Tail mages had followed him. "Right, I think that covers everything. If I see you again before the end of the day, there'll be hell to pay."

And then he was gone, leaving a miniature sandstorm in his wake.

"What was that all about?" Erza asked him, when he landed next to her.

"Uh… bathroom break."

"You should have said!" Natsu spoke up. "I needed to go too."

"And, what, you're not capable of going unless someone's there holding your hand?" Jellal snapped back icily.

"It's more convenient to go together, is all," Natsu grumbled. "And hey, how come you're not mad at Gray? If it was my hole you'd fallen into, you'd have murdered me."

 _Because it gave us a very narrow escape,_ Jellal thought, wondering if his warning to Wally was going to have any effect at all.

Out loud, he said coolly, "Because it was a very well-hidden hole, and I have to give credit where credit's due." And he thought it was worth it just to see the outraged look on Natsu's face. Ah, teasing that boy would never get old.

With a glance back towards the crossed palm trees, he added, "Anyway, what are we hanging around here for? We've got a barbecue to set up." He caught Erza looking at him shrewdly and snapped, "What now?"

"It's just nice to see you so enthusiastic about this, given how opposed you were to it earlier."

"Isn't giving your all to completely pointless everyday things part of being a Fairy Tail mage?" he retorted, before striding off. And that seemed enough to allay her suspicions, though by the looks of the soft smile that touched her lips, he had a feeling she might have missed the sarcasm.

* * *

As it turned out, Jellal's warnings had no effect at all – except, perhaps, to make his subordinates as angry with him as they were with Erza. It took all of about ten minutes for them to make it very clear that a relaxing day at the beach was not on the cards.

Jellal and the others had successfully navigated the veritable minefield of holes that Natsu and Gray had dug while bored, and Lucy, Juvia and Happy had gone to source the fish. Well, Happy had gone to source the fish, as he didn't trust anyone else with such a grave responsibility, and the girls were simply there to help with the carrying. Jellal tagged along with Erza, Natsu and Gray as they went to rent a suitable barbecue.

As the four of them walked along a paved path towards the built-up area of the resort, his ears pricked up at the sound of a cat's excited mewl from above them. That meant one of two things: that a cat stuck up a palm tree had seen them and was crying for help, or a cat-girl lying in wait up a palm tree had seen her prey and was gleefully preparing to pounce. And given how well his luck had been serving him recently, he would have bet anything that it was the latter.

So the instant he caught a blur of movement coming from a giant tree in the upper right of his vision, he spun around, pointed at the sea, and yelled, "Look, a water dragon!" As the others turned to look, he seized Millianna in mid-air as she dived towards Erza, and lobbed her bodily over the nearest fence.

"I don't see a dragon," Natsu complained.

"Oh, you missed it. Too bad. Let's keep moving."

And the concerned look that Erza cast him as they moved on only marked the beginning of his problems.

The barbecue was utterly uneventful – at least as far as the Fairy Tail mages were aware. While they grilled fish, chatted, made sandcastles, and relaxed in the sun, however, Jellal had his work cut out preventing Erza and her former friends from meeting by any means possible.

When he wasn't running about the place trying to physically keep them away from their little camp, he was protecting Erza through other means: beating Natsu and Gray in the sandcastle competition by producing a metre-tall rampart in record time to shield their camp from Wally's sniping; foiling Millianna's skydiving assault by intercepting her in mid-air and tying her parachute to the rear of a departing motorboat; and, in one particularly impressive case, out-duelling Sho using nothing more than a skewer of barbecued vegetables – even if he did have a difficult job afterwards explaining away the playing cards sandwiched between the peppers and red onions on his skewer. During their watermelon-splitting game, the instructions he shouted to a blindfolded Natsu successfully led the overenthusiastic boy to club both Wally and Sho around the head before a horrified Lucy could call an end to the game.

Jellal was just slipping back into their camp for the umpteenth time, having finished bundling a dazed Millianna into an empty carriage of the tram that ran the length of the sea front, when Natsu caught up with him. "Where've you been?" the boy demanded.

"Bathroom," came his automatic response.

"Again? That's like the fourth time in ten minutes!"

"Why are you counting?" Jellal shot back. "That's creepy."

"Well… are you alright? No one should be this stressed while at the beach, not even you."

"I'm not stressed," he snapped. "Stop bothering me."

"It's just, if there's something you wanted to talk about… or something you maybe needed help with… you know…"

"There isn't!"

"But you-"

" _Ahem._ "

Both of them wheeled round to see Erza stood behind them. There was a warning look on her face, though Jellal wasn't entirely sure which of them she was trying to warn, or of what.

"We're moving on now," she announced.

"What, all of us?" Jellal moaned.

"There's another big group who wants our spot on the beach, so we've got to clear out," she informed him. "We're going to head over to the theme park area of the resort instead. Everyone wants to come, so…"

Jellal gave a world-weary sigh. He didn't have the energy left to argue as he trailed despondently after Erza and Natsu. Not even the sight of Sho giving chase and falling straight into one of Natsu's holes was enough to lift his spirits.

* * *

"Let's go on that," Erza declared, pointing up at the biggest rollercoaster that Akane Resort had to offer. A recent addition to the site, it eschewed the traditional wood of fairground big dippers in favour of the sleek metal tracks and near-vertical drops favoured by thrill-seekers. Erza seemed unreasonably eager at the prospect. Jellal was privately glad that fighting with his magic had accustomed him to such nausea-inducing flights.

"I'll ride with you, Erza," Lucy bravely volunteered, rather than staying quiet and risking being forced to sit next to Natsu.

Gray had come to the same conclusion. "In that case, I'll ride with Juvia," he said, who looked over the moon that he had invited her and was not about to turn him down.

Jellal and Natsu looked at each other. "Do I have to?" Natsu groaned.

"Trust me, I feel exactly the same way," Jellal ground out. "But there's no way I'm letting Erza out of my sight right now."

"But," tried the boy, "I could just stay here and guard the coconuts…"

Both he and Gray were proudly clutching coconuts that they had won at a coconut shy during one of their many competitions. Jellal did not have a coconut, having used his turn to shoot at Wally instead, who had been preparing to snipe Erza from the roof of the stand behind. Natsu had been gloating about this 'victory' ever since, so Jellal was not about to pass up the chance to take him down a peg or two – and he certainly wasn't above using the rollercoaster to exploit the boy's weakness.

"Pull yourself together," Jellal ordered him, and they set off after the others.

After they managed to get through the entire queueing area without any ambushes, Jellal dared to hope that changing locations might have thrown off his pursuers, but alas, he had raised them to be more tenacious than that. As the rollercoaster began its ascent, Jellal finally caught sight of Sho – down on the ground with a wrench in his hand and an engineer's flat cap pulled low over his head, frantically trying to unscrew the bolts holding one of the track's support pillars in place.

"Oh, for heaven's sake, that's just _dangerous,_ " Jellal growled to himself. "Are you trying to kidnap Erza, or murder her? Natsu, pass me your coconut."

An unintelligible wail was his only response.

"You're so useless," he grumbled, fishing around in the bottom of the carriage and seizing Natsu's hard-won coconut. As they levelled out at the top of the climb, he took aim and lobbed the coconut, smacking Sho straight in the forehead.

"My coconut!" spluttered Natsu.

"A necessary sacrifice," Jellal assured him, already regretting not knocking Natsu out cold with the coconut before throwing it. Still, the rest of the ride passed without any fatal accidents, and he considered that a victory.

Of course, the worst part about secretly saving a bunch of people from a terrible accident was that not only did he not get any credit for it, but those who should have been thanking him were in fact just annoyed that he'd lost Natsu's coconut.

"Right, that does it," Natsu declared forcefully, as soon as they were back on solid ground. "I'm picking the next attraction. And we're going to visit…" He spun round on the spot and pointed dramatically over Jellal's shoulder. "The haunted house!"

"Are you kidding me?" Jellal demanded, utterly horrified.

A dark creepy building full of hiding places, concealed doors, sinister animatronics, and costumed staff members whose sole purpose was to jump out at them unexpectedly? Even worse, such a building in which Millianna and her friends would have free run of all the staff-only secret passages? Did Natsu want to truss Erza up and stick an apple in her mouth while he was at it?

"Why the haunted house?" Gray was asking of Natsu.

"Because Siegrain has been on edge ever since we came to the amusement park." Natsu gave an evil grin. "I think a few frights will push him over. This is revenge!"

"…I actually hate you," Jellal swore.

The attendant split them up to enter the mansion; Jellal ended up in the second group, with Erza, Lucy and Happy. He was trying so hard to remain calm that he barely noticed the first group entering. He was a battle-hardened, dark-cult-leading evil mastermind; nothing as mundane as a haunted house could get to him – but what he needed more than anything was a way to distinguish the fake ghosts from his living enemies. Natsu couldn't have picked a worse place to take Erza right now. That brat had been right: Jellal _was_ on edge, and he had a hunch this wasn't going to end well.

At a nod from the attendant, Erza led their group into the mansion. Once the door closed behind them, the interior – an old-fashioned entrance hall, lined with a moth-eaten rug upon creaking floorboards and hung with paintings whose eyes seemed to follow their every step – was lit only by candles. Jellal hoped his eyes would hurry up and adjust to the darkness.

A ghostly figure materialized at the end of the hall. There was already magic gathering at his palms when Erza glanced at him over her shoulder and said, bemused, "It's just an illusion."

"I'm well aware of that," Jellal snapped.

He could sense the weak magic radiating from the beckoning figure, but it took him another moment to convince himself that none of his subordinates from the Tower could have taught themselves illusion magic without his assistance. Then and only then did he let his magic go. This was going to be a challenge. Fixing the beckoning spectre with a baleful glare, he resumed walking through the half-light at Erza's side.

Lightning flashed across the fake windows, and in the brief illumination it offered, the paintings seemed to take on new forms – a beautiful woman was revealed as a hideous hag, a huntsman sat proudly astride his horse now carried his head under his arm – and then the thunder cracked and the visions were gone. _Calm down,_ he told himself firmly. _It's a nice optical illusion, but optical illusions aren't going to steal Erza from you._

A bone-chilling wail rose up from behind him. _No, it_ _'s just Happy trying to scare Lucy. Deep breaths. Stay calm._

With a terrifying scream, two enormous ghouls burst from the shadows swathing the ceiling and plunged towards them. _Don't; they're just animatronics,_ he reprimanded himself before his magic could tear them apart. As the figures caught on their wires and swung back and forth, cackling horribly, Jellal thought he had never wanted to blast someone into oblivion more than he did those things right now – and as a politician, that was saying something.

A sudden rush of cold air hit the back of his neck. With an unmistakeable chittering sound, hissing blasts of wind raced around his feet, collaborating to produce the sensation of walking through a swarm of spiders. _Relax. None of them can use wind magic. And there aren't really any spiders._

All the lights in the drawing room suddenly went out. _Don't worry, it's just another special effect- Simon!_

Jellal leapt into action. He dragged Erza towards him before anyone could snatch her away in the confusion and wrapped his arm tightly around her; straining all his senses to try and locate their assailant; prepared to attack with everything he had, visible target or no-

But rather than the violent assault he had been expecting, it was a gentle golden glow that filled the darkness: Lucy was holding her celestial keys above her head, and they shone with protective starlight.

That wasn't right. No simple light magic could penetrate the perfect darkness Simon could cast. And, rather than applauding him for his quick response to the attack, Lucy was regarding him with something akin to outrage.

"Seriously?" she demanded. "The lights go out for about two seconds and you're already making a move on Erza? You know, Levy and I were _this_ close to revoking our classification of you as a creepy pervert."

"…I don't suppose it would make much of a dent in your overactive imagination if I said this isn't what it looks like, would it?" Jellal growled back.

"None whatsoever."

"Siegrain," Erza began. She was looking up at him with bemusement, though – some distant part of his mind noticed – she hadn't pulled out of his grip yet either. "Are you afraid of the dark?"

"Of course I'm not! Don't be ridiculous!" Erza didn't look convinced. He frowned at her. "I thought we were under attack, that's all- _oh_."

Of course it wasn't an attack. Simon wasn't here. Today would have been right at the tail end of the two weeks he had booked off work to go travelling. No wonder it had just been Sho, Wally and Millianna he had been fending off all day. He let out a deep sigh.

"I agree; it is odd," Erza was saying. "While I won't deny that having all the lights suddenly go out like that is effective, it's also pretty dangerous. There's a lot of heavy furniture on display in this room – it would be easy for someone to hurt themselves or break something expensive if they went flailing around in total darkness. It's possible that this isn't part of the attraction… perhaps a power failure…"

That was when Jellal made a mistake.

The sight of Erza talking so rationally about the situation; of Lucy lecturing him like she often did around the guildhall – those ordinary things, combined with the relief from the false alarm, led him into a false sense of security. He believed the threat was over. He let his guard down.

And into that moment of weakness exploded an almighty roar, as something fast and dark launched itself at Jellal.

If there was one thing Natsu had got right, it was that Jellal was very highly strung right now. At the sudden attack, he screamed. Actually screamed.

In the next moment he had pushed Erza to safety, pivoted, raised both palms in front of him – and then his assailant was engulfed in an enormous beam of white energy. He caught a glimpse of a mummy wrapped in what looked suspiciously like toilet paper, topped with painfully familiar sakura-pink hair, before the figure was blasted backwards. The beam punched straight through one wall, then a second, and a third, and a fourth, and then there were no more walls and his unfortunate opponent was hurtling through the sky with a pitiful wail.

Dazzling sunlight filled the drawing room through the brand new succession of holes. The cloud of artificially scattered dust slowly returned to its place on the floor. Even the ghosts seemed to have been shocked into silence.

"Oooookay," said Lucy. "Remind me never to creep up on _you_ in a dark alley."

There was a rustle of movement and Gray and Juvia emerged from behind an antique armchair, their hands raised as if in surrender. "We did try to stop him," Gray said hastily. "But, you know what he's like when he gets an idea into his head…" He waved the severed power cable in his hand, as if trying to dismiss blame as well as the dust.

Before anyone else could speak, a bookshelf slid aside to reveal a brightly lit maintenance passageway, from which two men dressed in the resort's uniforms emerged.

"What happened here?" one of them demanded. "We heard an explosion… oh."

They caught sight of the damage done to the haunted house and stopped in their tracks. Then, as one, everyone in the room glanced from the enormous hole to Jellal, who was frozen with his hands still outstretched.

Yeah, not even he was going to be able to talk his way out of this one.

"If that was Natsu," Jellal said, in a voice like ice, "I am going to _kill_ him."

* * *

 _ **A/N:** I was in a silly mood again. So sue me. ~CS_


	18. Old Friends

_**A/N:** Saturday chapter this week, since I'm travelling all day tomorrow! ~CS_

* * *

 **Kidnapping Erza**

By CrimsonStarbird

* * *

 **Chapter Eighteen: Old Friends**

"I can't do this any more," Jellal groaned, as he collapsed face-first onto a sun lounger. "I want to go home."

He had come to Akane Resort in order to kidnap Erza, and not only had he _not_ kidnapped her, but he had spent the entire day _stopping_ her from being kidnapped. The universe had decided that making him suffer as part of this ridiculous guild was no longer sufficient, so it was tormenting him with irony too. He was exhausted, and to make things worse, his best efforts at kidnapping-prevention had left behind him a trail of destruction. He hadn't quite figured out what he was going to do about the expensive jet ski whose engine he had deliberately broken, and Makarov would skin him alive the moment he heard about the damage done to the haunted house – provided Ultear didn't get to him first.

Predictably, there was no sympathy to be found on the beach: the late afternoon sun continued to beat down upon his back; the cicadas chirped in the nearby trees; the white plastic slats of the sun lounger squished his nose uncomfortably, but he could not quite muster up the strength to move.

"Hey," came a cautious voice.

Jellal reluctantly opened one eye and rotated his head just enough to see the speaker. Juvia had changed into a knee-length indigo dress, more formal than anything she wore while working around the guildhall. She was clutching half a coconut in her hand, which she offered to him as soon as she saw him looking. A straw and a cocktail umbrella protruded from the top of it.

After a moment's internal struggle, Jellal's exhaustion won out over his pride; he rolled over and pushed himself into a sitting position to accept the coconut cup. "Does this have rum in it?" he inquired, examining the bright red cocktail inside with a critical eye.

"If it isn't too presumptuous of Juvia to say so," she replied, shuffling anxiously, "She thought you looked like you needed it."

"You don't know the half of it." Jellal pushed the straw aside and downed the contents of the coconut in one go. "You're being very polite today," he added, by way of a thank you. "I'm not used to Fairy Tail mages showing me any kind of respect."

"Well… Juvia wanted to apologize for how she acted this morning. She was rude to you, even though you helped her…"

"Oh, I don't care about that. I have far bigger things to be annoyed about."

"Even so…" she repeated earnestly. "If there's anything that Juvia can do to make it up to you…"

He just shrugged. "You helped me out a lot with the jet ski battle earlier, so as far as I'm concerned, we're already even."

"Well… thank you," she smiled.

"You know, Juvia, you're alright," Jellal said, without thinking. "You're actually pretty reliable when Gray's not around. If you could just be like that all the time, and stop becoming clingy and obsessive the instant he's involved, it'd make it a lot easier on the rest of us as we get to know you, Gray included."

For a moment, Juvia completely tensed up. He wondered absently if she was going to slap him again. Maybe he'd crossed a line. He wasn't even sure why he cared, except to try and strike a pre-emptive blow against any more dubious love-struck schemes of hers which were bound to bring chaos to his life. Perhaps it was just the rum talking.

But in the end, the sensible, honest Juvia won out, and she smiled once more. "Perhaps you're right. Juvia isn't sure that you're the best person to be taking advice on connecting with other people from…" she added, probably thinking of his reputation as the moodiest mage around the guildhall. "But then again, you're having a lot more luck with Erza than Juvia is with her dear Gray, so maybe she might try taking your advice this once."

Jellal laughed. "Trust me, I am having no luck whatsoever with Erza."

To his surprise, Juvia just nodded sincerely. "It is a shame that you and Erza didn't get to spend any time alone together on your date."

"Well, whose fault is that, now?"

"Juvia was thinking… there's this beautiful scenic spot up on the cliffs near here. Hardly anyone knows about it, so it's really private and peaceful… and it's supposed to be really pretty in the evening. Juvia was going to ask her dear Gray to watch the sunset with her from the top, but she does feel guilty that she and the others ruined your date… so why don't you take Erza up there instead? Juvia can give you directions."

That… wasn't actually a bad idea. Somewhere isolated, where Juvia – and by extension, the rest of their retinue – was actually _encouraging_ him to be alone with Erza? That was a perfect kidnapping opportunity if he had ever heard one. He could put an end to the infuriating antics of Sho, Wally and Millianna in one fell swoop if he could just kidnap Erza before they did.

"That's a great suggestion, thanks, Juvia. I'll ask her straight away."

"No, you won't," interrupted Gray, sauntering in from the side.

"And why not?"

"Because we're going to the casino now. We've already decided; Erza too. That's why we've all been changing into more formal clothes. You should do the same, by the way. They won't let you into the games hall looking like that."

He nodded towards Jellal, who was still wearing his combat gear, having once again dressed for a day of attempted world domination rather than a night out. Jellal just scowled at him. "I don't want to hear that from you."

"Oh, Lucy's grabbing my shirt and trousers from the locker where we left all our stuff," Gray breezed. "She told us they had a casino on site, so we all packed appropriate clothes just in case."

"Good, maybe she'll bring my jacket too."

"I don't think a jacket stuck over that outfit is going to be enough to get you into the casino. It's a pretty classy place."

"No, but in the pockets of said jacket are my Wizard Saint emblem and my ID as a member of the Magic Council, and I have yet to encounter any institution that some combination of those two has been unable to get me into."

"…Touché," Gray grinned. "We'll meet you down there. Let's go, Juvia."

The moment the two of them were gone, Jellal lay back down on the sunbed and let out another world-weary sigh.

To say that he didn't want to go to the casino would be to grossly understate the magnitude of the vacuum where his enthusiasm was usually kept. He was exhausted, frustrated, and to make matters worse, the casino had been the stage for his original plan to kidnap Erza, way back when all of this had begun. Sho, Millianna and Wally would definitely try to make one big move on her there, and it would be an awful lot more coordinated than any of their kidnapping attempts thus far, because they still had the plan he himself had devised for them to work from. He resolved then and there to never devise evil plans for other people ever again.

Maybe it would be easier if he just let them take her. As long as they stuck to the original plan and were careful to neutralize the Fairy Tail mages, she'd still end up his prisoner in the Tower of Heaven, which, really, was the only thing that mattered. Why had he started caring so much about doing it himself?

He had been fully prepared to let Erza's former friends grab her the first time round, after all. What was different now? Was it mere pride, because leaving it up to someone else was no different to admitting defeat? Was he really willing to let his eight-year ambition come to ruin just for that? He was better than that, wasn't he-?

"Siegrain?"

At the sound of Erza's voice, his eyes shot open – and he immediately did a double-take. Not only had she managed to get within reach of him without him noticing, but she wasn't wearing her usual armour, or even the attractive bikini from earlier. No, she was wearing a certain sophisticated black dress that she had bought on their accidental shopping trip.

And it was just as stunning as it had been back then, but he had tried so hard to forget everything about that absolute failure of a day that it was like seeing her for the very first time. She had added diamond teardrop earrings, and she had pinned her hair up into an elegant swirl behind her head, which emphasized the perfect curves of her neck and shoulders.

"Are you ready to go?" she asked with a smile, and the sunlight set her hair aflame, and he knew in that instant why he could never let his subordinates lay a finger upon her.

 _I want it to be me, and only me. I won't let anyone else take her from me._

"I'm ready," he said, as he climbed to his feet. "Let's do this."

* * *

Akane Resort's casino hall looked an awful lot like someone had taken a survey of Jellal's least favourite things to encounter on a battlefield and stuck them all in one room.

There were so many people. Guests, hosts, gamblers, waiters and security staff buzzed about the room like a plague of locusts. Men and women of all ages had dressed up for the occasion; some were even fully concealed within popular character costumes. Staff members swept through the hall bearing trays of drinks or gambling chips. It wasn't as if Jellal particularly cared about innocents being hurt during his magical battles, but they had an infuriating tendency to get in the way. He couldn't fight freely here – and that was assuming he could even find his opponents before they found him. This was their home territory, not his.

Where there weren't people, there were other obstacles: pool and gaming tables, ice statues, indoor fountains, giant potted plants, and even enormous games machines that stretched from floor to ceiling, designed to be as eye-catching – and thus as view-obstructing – as possible. Everything was bright; everything dazzled; everything was moving, flashing, and rotating, and making any sense of it was impossible. As he followed Erza through the crowd, he tried to memorize as much of the hall's layout as possible, to minimize his reliance on vision during a fight.

And it was so _loud._ The hall was a cacophony of useless noise. How could he possibly hope to hear someone creeping up to attack Erza when he had to shout just to make himself heard? More than once he had flinched at the sound of champagne being uncorked. Even worse, there was so much ambient magic being used to decorate the hall that even he wasn't sure he'd be able to detect an opponent's hostile power until it was too late.

There was so much atmosphere, and it pressed down upon him like a physical weight. How was he supposed to fight in a place like this? How was he supposed to do _anything?_

The Fairy Tail mages were scattered all over the hall. Natsu, who had been giving him as wide a berth as possible since the haunted house incident, was over at the far side of the room with Happy, waging enthusiastic war against one of the games machines. Gray and Juvia were sat together at the bar. From this distance, Gray didn't look _too_ uncomfortable about the whole arrangement. Maybe Juvia had actually listened to his earlier advice.

Meanwhile, Erza and Lucy were tackling one of the poker tables. The former was playing with an enviable sophistication, and Lucy, though she lacked her friend's easy confidence, clearly knew a lot more about statistics and taking financial risks than she let on; between the two of them, they were making short work of their opponents at the table. Watching them, Jellal almost smiled.

Almost.

But he was far too tense to relax. They had been here for fifteen minutes, and he had yet to see any of his former friends in the casino. He knew they were here somewhere – they wouldn't pass up an opportunity like this. So where were they?

He was lurking close to Erza and Lucy's table, an untouched glass of champagne resting on the counter beside him. An effortless aura of hostility dissuaded anyone – whether a well-intentioned waiter or a hopeful young woman – from approaching him. That was a skill he'd picked up during his obligatory attendances at several years' worth of Council galas.

Yet no matter how many times he scanned the surrounding crowd, there was still no sign of his opponents. Had they seen sense at last; given up and gone home? How long would he have to remain here, on edge like he had not been in this whole eight-year deception, before Erza and the others finally agreed to leave?

He saw it only by sheer fluke.

If he hadn't been looking in exactly the right direction, he would have missed it completely: a strange shining burst; not from the floor, where it would have been indistinguishable from the light and colour that held sway, but from high above the heads of the crowds, near the soaring ceiling.

There was a window up there – well, a mirror from this side, but a window from the other – behind which lay a small room whose sole purpose was to monitor the floor below. There were security guards, who kept an eye out for any trouble brewing, and games masters, who read the mood of the patrons and subtly altered the lighting, the music, and even the odds on the machines to suit, using controls installed in that little guard room. Completely concealed from the hall below, it provided the perfect vantage point to snipe from.

And that small glittering burst had been one of the window panels breaking.

Jellal was already sprinting for the great hall's exit. They weren't going for a direct attack at all – they were going to knock her out from afar, and use the control room to cause a panic in which to steal her away.

Well, not on his watch. Shoving aside waiters and patrons alike, he burst out of the hall, thundered up the staircase, vaulted the "Staff Only" barrier, kicked down the door he was looking for, and emerged into the control room.

It was empty.

He could see the great control panel, with all its levers and buttons glittering; he could see the hole made in the glass window, the perfect sniping point – and yet there was no one here. Not a security guard surveying the scene below. Not one of his former friends, preparing to strike Erza down. No one.

A floorboard creaked behind him.

Jellal whirled around, calling his magic to him, but he was already too late. He caught a glimpse of a tanned man holding up a blank playing card, and then the world vanished into a whirlpool of darkness. "SHO!" he tried to scream, but there was no air here, and the void filled his lungs instead.

His feet struck something solid. As he struggled to regain his balance, gasping for breath, a window of light seemed to open before him in the darkness. Through it, he could see the ceiling of the room he had just left, though how far away it was he did not know, for the world had lost a dimension when it had been sucked through that spatial vortex. No matter how hard he slammed his fists against the invisible wall between him and three-dimensional space, he could not return to it. "SHO!" he yelled again.

The view of the ceiling suddenly swam as Sho picked up the card Jellal was trapped in and set it down upon the control panel. "I'm sorry, Jellal," he said. "I really am. But I don't know what's got into you today. You can stay in here for the time being. I'm sure we can all talk this through and come to an understanding once Wally, Millianna and I have kidnapped Erza."

There came the sound of receding footsteps and a lock clicking shut, and then Jellal and his prison were alone in that room.

It was a trap. He had been outwitted by his own subordinates.

With a wordless cry of rage, he struck the barrier separating him from the outside world, but neither his fist nor the savage arcs of light bursting from his arm could make a dent in it. Why hadn't he seen this coming? Why hadn't it occurred to him that they might have tried to get _him_ , their greatest obstacle, out of the way before going after Erza?

Because he didn't think that they would dare to raise a hand against him, their boss?

No. It wasn't that.

Jellal rested his forehead against the invisible barrier, breathing heavily. He had been acting under the assumption that they wouldn't do anything to seriously hurt him, just as he hadn't done anything to hurt them.

If he had used his true power at any point during the afternoon, he could have obliterated the three of them in an instant. But he hadn't. He had fought them on their own terms, with jet skis, vegetable skewers, and sandcastles as his weapons. He hadn't incapacitated them or anything severe like that – no, he had driven them off without harming them, again and again and again, even though it meant they were able to keep coming at him. And he had just assumed they were going to keep playing by the same rules.

Why?

It wasn't as if he particularly cared about them. They may have been his friends once, but now they were merely his tools. And when it came right down to it, they were disposable. Now that the Tower was complete, he no longer needed them, and he had planned to get rid of them anyway as soon as his dark god was reborn.

But even so, they were…

Well, they had always been there, he supposed; with him for as long as he could remember. They had grown up together. He had taught them magic, and how to fight, and he had been there every step of the way as they ceased to be powerless children and realized that they were capable of taking back the futures that had been stolen from them so long ago. Until today, they had never been disloyal, not once in eight years. He was their leader, he had been ever since they were slaves together in the Tower, and it wasn't right for a leader to harm those under his command. There was a world of difference between not considering someone a friend and actively wanting them dead.

Even now, after they had not only ruined his plan to kidnap Erza, but forced him to spend his entire day countering _their_ plans rather than relaxing, he _still_ didn't want to hurt them, let alone kill them. Punish them for disobeying him, yes, but nothing worse than that.

It was no different to how he felt about Natsu and the others. Between showing up to wreck his kidnapping plans, digging ridiculous holes everywhere, and jumping out at him in the haunted house, Natsu had done no shortage of things to really piss him off today, and although Jellal was angry – and still plotting his revenge – he had no intention of murdering the boy.

And that, really, summed up his relationship to Sho, Wally and Millianna quite well. It was just like being forced to be in a guild with people who weren't his friends, but who he didn't particularly dislike either. They were stuck together: a connection, a strange sort of comradeship, that could not simply be pushed aside. It was just how things were. After three weeks being stuck with these people in this guild, it was a sentiment Jellal had come to recognize.

But what if they wouldn't listen to him? What if the only way he could stop them from coming after Erza over and over was to make it physically impossible for them to do so, by hurting them so severely they could no longer move?

There was no point worrying about that bridge right now. It would all be for nothing if he couldn't stop them from reaching Erza. He pushed the uncertainty out of his mind and forced himself to focus on the situation at hand.

Sho's prison was good, and there was no easy way to break out of it without dimension-cutting abilities, but Jellal had helped him learn this magic. He knew its limits even better than its wielder did, and if he targeted its weak dimensional intersections, he could shatter it with sheer power. The problem was that the moment he did so, everyone in the casino – friend and foe alike – would be able to sense it. If he was going to keep Erza from discovering the battle, he would have to move quickly.

Taking a deep breath, he called his power and let it build inside him, until his body could no longer contain it and the light pouring from his skin filled the void of his prison. He clenched his fist and all the raw magical energy detonated, ripping apart those dimensional barriers. With a brilliant blaze of light, he materialized in the middle of the control room.

His feet barely touched the floor before he leapt forwards – reaching out and punching straight through the glass protecting the emergency stop button.

Instantly the power to the casino hall was cut. The room below was plunged into darkness as the illumination lacrima all went out at once. In the absence of the lights, the games machines, the fountains, and the music, there was nothing but silence and shock.

The only person, enemy, ally or bystander, who wasn't stunned by the change was Jellal himself, and he launched himself bodily at the window. It shattered under the impact and he burst into the pitch-black casino hall in a swarm of crystal shards.

He knew he had a minute at most before the emergency generators kicked in and the lights came back on. Furthermore, he couldn't risk using his magic, as the light of it would give away his position at once. He had to fight almost completely blind. And it should have been impossible, but he knew his opponents. He knew how they thought; what magic they were likely to fall back on. And that would be his weapon.

Time seemed to slow down as he entered freefall. According to the original plan, Sho, Wally and Millianna were supposed to split up in order to incapacitate as many of Erza's friends as possible before capturing her – they weren't worried about Erza herself being a threat, because the surprise of their reunion would neutralize her for them. Even though they were a man short without Simon, Jellal suspected they would stick to the same basic plan, and attempt to use the unexpected concealment just as they would have used Simon's darkness: as cover to take out the Fairy Tail mages.

In the darkness, Wally would react first. Assuming he was already in place, he would use the laser sight on his gun to take the shot anyway. And that would reveal his location.

Twisting in the middle of nothingness, with no way of knowing how far from the ground he was, Jellal did not dare to blink – and then he caught sight of a flash of red just below him. He launched himself forwards in mid-air, hoping he had the momentum to carry him over. As he plunged downwards, his hand wrapped around Wally's neck and they both crashed to the floor, Jellal on top, his knees knocking the wind out of his stunned opponent. Wally gave a strangled groan and then stopped struggling.

Somewhere nearby, Natsu – who had presumably been Wally's target – was shouting something, but Jellal had blocked it all out. He had to focus. Who would act next? Under the original plan, Sho would have used the cover of Simon's darkness to capture all the bystanders in his cards so that they couldn't get in the way. No doubt he would do the same here, perhaps not realizing that this darkness could not have been Simon's doing, and that suited Jellal just fine; while Sho was busy clearing the battlefield, he wasn't a threat.

Millianna, on the other hand… the catlike attributes of her magic granted her exceptional low-light vision; she would recover faster than anyone in this blackout. So where was she? He had a vague recollection that her previous goal had been to neutralize Lucy, so she was probably over at the poker table-

No. That wasn't right. That had been the original plan, sure, but she wouldn't stick to it. Millianna was vengeful, far more so than anyone meeting her for the first time would guess. She could hold a grudge for years. After her defeat in the jet ski battle, she would go after the person who had helped him get the better of her on the water: Juvia.

Jellal was already gone. He knew where the bar was relative to him; he ran fearlessly through the darkness, dragging Wally along behind him by his tie. It would have been impossible in a crowded hall, but he had predicted Sho's actions correctly, and there was no one in his way. His recollection of the floor's layout was perfect; by running his hand along the obstacles they passed, and picking up on the splashing sound as he pulled Wally through the pool below the now-defunct fountain, he found his location with confidence.

He heard Juvia's warning shout and guessed she was pulling Gray out of the way of Millianna's attack; a hypothesis as good as confirmed by the thwack of her tube against the wooden counter. Placing their positions by sound, he leapt between them and Millianna, and her second attack caught around his wrist instead. A swift tug of the tube pulled her off-balance, and he lunged forwards to hurl Wally towards her with all his might. The two of them went down in a confused heap. He bound them tightly with Millianna's tube as best he could, and when he got to his feet again, the end of Wally's tie back in his right hand, both of them were dragged along with him.

Now what?

He had to get to Sho before Sho could get to Erza. He couldn't run there while carrying two prisoners, but he had already used up the element of surprise anyway.

In that case, he had to change plans: give up his role as a stealth combatant and become the sun at the centre of everything.

There were lights already flickering into existence as the others began to fight back against the darkness, but they were nothing compared to the sudden supernova that erupted in the heart of the room. Closing his eyes and covering them with his free hand, Jellal released his full power in the form of pure light. Shrieks of pain tore through the air as the blinding radiance caught the room unprepared. He could only hope that Erza had been looking directly at him, and would be too temporarily dazzled to notice who it was he was fighting.

His magic was with him now. He crossed to the poker table in a single bound, dragging his prisoners as if they were weightless, and seized Sho's collar in his other hand. He could sense his former friend struggling against his grip, and he pressed the full weight of his magic down against him, fierce and unrelenting and still blinding-bright, reminding him forcibly just which one of them was in charge. Then he was in the air again, shooting towards the grand hall's exit.

The emergency generator kicked in. A yellow glow suffused the room as the lacrima started up again. The fans of the air conditioning unit woke up with a begrudging whir; the fountain spluttered and tossed up water droplets haphazardly. Jellal caught a glimpse of hundreds of people rising like spectres from the cards scattered all over the floor as Sho's magic broke, and then the four of them barrelled through the doors and out into the corridor.

With the footsteps of panicked security guards closing in on them from all directions, Jellal wasted no time in finding the nearest unoccupied conference room and throwing his captives inside, before following them and bolting the door behind him.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" he hissed furiously, as they untangled themselves and found their feet. "How many times do I have to tell you to stay out of my way?"

"And how many times do _we_ have to tell _you?_ " Sho snarled back. "You're not the only one who has a right to seek revenge!"

"But I'm the one calling the shots here! If I say I'm doing it, then I'm doing it, and you're not!" As Jellal's voice rose to a shout, his magic began to take form again as an ominous aura around his body. "Look, do you want me to hurt you? Because if you keep this up, I'm not going to have a choice!"

"If you're going to keep coming between us and Erza, you're not giving us a choice either!" Millianna objected.

A slight shift in her posture told him she was entering into a defensive stance he had taught her long ago, ready to summon her magic-suppressing tube at any moment. There were playing cards trapped between the fingers of Sho's outstretched hand. Wally had already converted the blocks of his arm into a gun. Both sides stared each other down without blinking. No one wanted to make the first move.

 _Are they really going to do this?_ Jellal thought wildly. _Is there no way of stopping them except total annihilation?_

"Why can't you just listen to me?" he shouted.

"Because you're making no sense!" retorted Sho, his voice rising to match Jellal's desperation. "We've waited eight years for this; we won't wait any longer!"

"Just leave her alone!"

"We won't! She's our enemy!"

"Why do you have to hate her so much?"

"SHE BETRAYED US!" Sho howled.

"NO SHE DIDN'T!" Jellal howled back.

Sho blinked at him, the wind suddenly gone from his sails. "…What?"

"Erza didn't betray you. She didn't betray any of us."

The three of them exchanged glances. "What do you mean, Jellal?" Millianna ventured. The magic she had gathered didn't disappear, but it didn't take physical form either. "You told us she was the one who set explosives in the boats, so that she could escape on her own!"

"Well, I was wrong," he snapped. "I spoke to Erza earlier, and it turns out it was all just one big misunderstanding. It was the former owner of the Tower who set the explosives when the rebellion began. He wanted to ensure that no one could escape alive. Erza found out, and was on her way to warn us when he caught her. Rather than silencing her, he decided to frame her for the whole thing by forcing her onto the only safe boat – so it looked like she had sold us out to save herself. She would have starved to death at sea if she hadn't happened to wash up on the mainland in the nick of time."

Silence followed this round of wild improvisation.

"But…" Sho tried. The anger had vanished from his voice, and with nothing strong enough to replace it, he seemed completely lost. "But if it wasn't her fault, then why did she never come back for us…?"

"Maybe she couldn't find her way back," Jellal said coldly. "Maybe she thought we had died in the trap she had tried to warn us about. Maybe she was worried that the rebellion had failed, and we would all be made to suffer more if they discovered she had survived. Whatever the reason… she may have never returned, but she hasn't been able to move on either. She's carried that guilt with her for eight years."

"So all this time," Millianna spoke up in a quiet voice, "When we've been blaming her for everything, she was just as much a victim as we were?"

"That's right."

"Then… it's no wonder you've been protecting her all day long…" Wally mumbled, unusually downcast. "Why didn't you tell us straight away?"

"I didn't think you'd believe me, after all this time."

"But then… what are we supposed to do now?" Sho asked. All trace of rebellion had gone from his gaze. It was back to 'we' again as they looked once more to their leader for guidance. "We're not going to… are we?" He glanced around at his friends, and then back to Jellal, who was silent. "I mean, we can't sacrifice Erza… not now we know the truth… can we?"

"…I don't know," Jellal said heavily. "I… I need some time to think this through. Can you stay away from Erza until I work things out?"

Sho gave him a timid smile. "Yeah, I guess it must have come as a shock to you as well, since I know how personally you always took Erza's betrayal. We'll back off for the time being. That way you can think things over, and… and decide where we're going to go from here. Alright?"

"…Alright."

There was a pause. "Jellal?" Millianna ventured, after a moment. "You know… you don't always have to work everything out by yourself. Infiltrating the Council, going off to kidnap Erza, or even dealing with this today – you've always done it on your own, and there's no need for that. We'll be around in the resort; you can come and find us at any time. We know how you feel. We might be able to help."

"Yeah… thanks."

* * *

 _I shouldn't have done that._

That was the one thought circling round and round in Jellal's mind as he paced up and down the beach.

 _I shouldn't have done that._

His impulsive act had solved the immediate problem, but at what cost?

He had lost his leverage over the only people in the world that he had been able to trust a little. Their hatred of Erza had ensured their loyalty for eight years. By relinquishing that, he no longer had any means of keeping them on his side. And he didn't need them – he didn't need anyone but himself – but it complicated things still further.

He needed them to be loyal because they knew too much. Although ignorant of his true aspirations, they knew almost all the little details of his plan to activate the Tower of Heaven: his intention to kidnap Erza; Etherion as the final stage; even that Jellal and Siegrain were one and the same. How long they would keep their word and stay away from Erza, he did not know, but he doubted it would be for long. They were desperate to talk to her after what he had just told them. And if they told her anything at all, it would make it near-impossible for him to kidnap her.

He could choose another sacrifice, of course. Sho and the others would probably still be willing to side with him and keep everything hidden from Erza if he would make that compromise.

But he would not. It _had_ to be Erza. After spending three weeks by her side, it wasn't just a feeling, but a cast-iron fact. No one else was good enough to be his sacrifice; nothing but the world in its entirety would be a great enough gift for her. Settling for anything less was inconceivable.

 _I shouldn't have done that._

He had acted without thinking of the consequences. He had only wanted a peaceful end to the conflict between him and his old friends. Yet no matter his regret; his anger; his fear towards the danger he had accidentally created for himself – what he had done could not be undone. They would not forget the half-truth he had told them, except in death; nor could the change it had brought to their desires ever be unwrought.

And the danger that their continued existence posed to him grew stronger with every cycle of his thoughts.

No. There was still a way out of this. If he could just-

"Siegrain!"

He jumped a mile at the unexpected shout. Nothing threw him off his game more than being interrupted while he was scheming. It was impossible to shake the irrational fear that told him his incriminating thoughts had been overheard.

Turning to see who had spoken, he felt the gloom in his chest deepen: Erza. She was about the last person he wanted to see right now. "What?" he growled.

With an apologetic smile, she pointed at the hole in the sand he had been about to walk into, cunningly concealed behind a hollow sandcastle rampart. "I think it's one of Natsu's."

"That boy…" he began, but he let his complaint tail off as a wordless sigh. "What are you doing here, anyway? I thought you were all spending the last few minutes on the beach before we have to get on the train."

"Juvia said there was something you wanted to show me."

"Ah. Yes. That." Glancing over his shoulder, Jellal saw Natsu, Gray, Happy, Juvia and Lucy watching the two of them not at all conspicuously from behind a large palm tree. Juvia gave him a quick thumbs-up.

His gaze turned back to Erza. There was still a way out of this. Sho, Wally and Millianna were a threat to him only if they broke their word and went to Erza. All he had to do to negate the danger they posed was to ensure he was the one who moved first. He didn't need their help to bring Erza to the Tower, or to get Etherion to fire, or to carry out any stage of his plan. They wouldn't even know until it was too late.

He didn't need anyone but himself, if he kidnapped Erza right now.

So he said to her, "Come with me."

Intrigued, she fell into step beside him. Jellal didn't say anything as they walked, following the directions Juvia had given him to the clifftop spot. His attention was fixed on the other Fairy Tail mages – and whether or not they were following him. Much to his amazement, he didn't think they were. Perhaps after a full day of interfering, they had finally learnt some respect for other people's privacy.

Erza had noticed his silence; his slightly shifty behaviour. "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah."

"You seem distracted," she persisted. "Maybe I can help. What's on your mind?"

The last thing he wanted right now was for Erza to start prying into his affairs. For a moment, he considered replying with a customarily rude retort, but he hesitated. No, he knew what would throw her off more effectively than that.

So he looked right at her and said, quietly, a carefully chosen truth: "I was just thinking, you look really good in that dress."

She seemed to freeze for a moment, and then smiled, glancing out to sea in the hope that he would not see her blush. "Thank you." And after that, she stopped trying to pry into his affairs.

The winding trail took them up to the very top of the cliff, and they came to a halt close to the edge. Before them, the sea spread out in all its majesty, burnished orange and mysterious indigo and beautiful violet as the waves caught the light of the setting sun. After the day he had had, the peace and quiet felt like heaven to Jellal.

Even better, there was no one else around. As Juvia had promised, this was an isolated spot. Few tourists came up here from the resort, and the rise and fall of the rocky coastal terrain behind them hid them almost completely from view. There was a single boat – the coastguard's motorboat – making its slow way across the ocean, but as soon as that was out of sight, there would be no witnesses.

"You know," Erza was saying thoughtfully, "This may sound a bit strange, but until recently, I couldn't feel comfortable wearing anything other than my armour. I always wanted to appear strong; to protect myself by keeping people at a distance… After what happened in the Tower of Heaven, I didn't ever want to get close to anyone, in case it all happened again. And I think it's because of that that I never noticed just how hard all my friends were trying to reach me. But, when you came here… you took that choice away from me. I couldn't pretend to be strong when you were around. And, rather than pushing away the weak Erza that they saw, they reached out to me, and told me it was alright to rely on others. You know, these past couple of weeks… I've been so happy."

"That's what makes you strong, Erza," Jellal said softly.

They stood side by side, listening to the evening's gentle lullaby. A handful of stars twinkled in the darkest part of the sky, braving the sunset's radiance to add their own little sprinkle of beauty to the scene. The lone motorboat had disappeared from view while she was talking, no doubt returning at last to Akane Resort's harbour.

Jellal's heart lurched at the realization that the two of them were truly alone.

This was the moment. It was time for him to make his move.

"I'm really sorry about today," Erza spoke up suddenly, and he had to listen, because it would be rude to kidnap her while she was talking. "I'm the one who invited you to go out somewhere, and yet it's my fault we didn't actually get to spend any time together. I should have said something to the others, but I just kept going along with their suggestions, even though I knew you didn't want to. It's ironic, isn't it? Even after all the encouragement Mira gave me, when it came down to it, I was still too scared to act."

She gave a quiet laugh. "I don't think I've ever said those words before. 'I was scared'. No matter how afraid I was, I always felt as though fear wasn't something Fairy Tail's Titania was allowed to express. I thought it would make me seem weak; that it would make the others abandon me… I've been such a fool for eight years. Thank you for showing me that."

Some part of his mind was screaming at him to do it now, but still he did not move. He wanted to hear what she had to say.

"Are you scared now?" he asked.

"A little."

A slight step closer. "There's no need to be."

"I know. Connecting with other people really isn't as terrifying as I thought it would be." She glanced at him, and a faint smile touched her lips; her eyes shone with the happiness of the setting sun. "And, you know, I suppose it's not too bad to let myself be protected by others, every once in a while."

Jellal felt the sudden urge to laugh. Easy for _her_ to say. If only she knew how hard he'd been working to protect her all day-

Or _did_ she know? For her to just bring it up like that – wasn't it too much of a coincidence? Had he been naïve to think he could wage war around her all day long without her noticing?

But she couldn't have identified their opponents, or she'd definitely have said something. And she wouldn't be so willing to let her guard down around him either. She must surely still trust him.

Even so… He couldn't let himself become complacent.

He had to kidnap her.

He had to do it _now._

"This really is a beautiful place," she murmured. She had turned away from him again, to bathe in the natural wonder of the sunset painted across the ocean. "I'm so glad I could see this with you."

 _Do it now!_

"Me too," he said.

With her gaze fixed upon the blazing horizon, Erza took a deep breath. "Siegrain, I want to ask you something… and it's going to sound silly, really silly, but I want you to give me an honest answer… okay?"

When Erza spoke those words, she was expecting one of two responses.

Either, through curiosity or maybe even compassion, he would agree to her terms and hear her out. Or, falling back on the rudeness and apathy he expressed all the time around their guild, he would tell her to take her problems elsewhere and stop bothering him. She didn't know which of the two she was hoping for: the sign that he was willing to listen to her, or the assurance that she did not have to go through with this after all.

And she would never know the answer to that, because what happened next fell into neither of those nice categories.

Nor, incidentally, did it fall into the category of 'successful kidnap' that Jellal might have hoped for.

Instead, there came the sound of a female voice yelling "Hi-yah!", accompanied by a loud thwack, a brief scream, and the unmistakeable splash of something falling into the sea.

Frowning, Erza turned to look at Jellal, only to find that he had turned into Juvia, striking a karate pose on the very edge of the cliff. She blinked twice, but Juvia failed to turn back into Jellal.

Even more surprisingly, Juvia leaned over the edge of the cliff, cupped her hands to her mouth, and shouted, "Juvia isn't going to lose to you!"

"…Okay…?" mumbled a perplexed Erza.

The pounding of footsteps drew her attention away from this peculiar sight. Natsu, Gray and Lucy were sprinting along the clifftop trail towards them, with Happy floating above.

"Oh, no, Juvia!" Lucy was shouting. "She actually did it…!"

"That girl's completely lost it," Gray groaned.

"Lucy?" Erza blinked, glancing from her flustered friends to the triumphant Juvia and back again. "What's going on?"

"It's… ugh." Coming to a halt beside Erza, Lucy shook her head despondently. "When Juvia advised Siegrain to invite you up here, she thought it would just be nice for the two of you to spend some time alone. Apparently it hadn't occurred to her that it was obviously the perfect setting for a romantic confession, with the sunset and all. After I pointed that out to her, she… ah…"

"She lost her grip on reality," Gray supplied matter-of-factly.

There was a surprising intensity in the water mage's eyes, made all the more potent by its contrast to her usual mild-mannered politeness. She clenched her fist. "Juvia won't let Siegrain confess his feelings to Erza before she can confess hers to Gray!"

"Juvia!" came Lucy's exasperated shout. "It isn't a race!"

"Of course it is! Love is a competition, Lucy!"

"…No, it isn't!" Lucy turned to Erza with a sigh. "On behalf of my friend, I would like to sincerely apologize for your date being pushed off a cliff- ah!"

She yelped in surprise as Erza suddenly swept her and Juvia up into an enormous hug. At first, she thought Erza was crying, but she wasn't – she was laughing, laughing so hard there were tears in her eyes.

"I was up all night worrying about what might happen today," Erza told them, holding them so tightly they thought they might burst. "Potential scenarios for how the day might end kept playing over and over in my mind. And you know, this option never even occurred to me. I love this guild," she added, with a smile of pure joy. "I love how we give our all in everything we do, no matter how silly it seems. Please, don't ever change."

The two girls grinned, hugging her back.

"I hate to be the one to ruin the moment," Gray spoke up suddenly. He was stood at the very edge of the cliff, peering at the sea far below. All traces of the ripples from where Jellal had fallen in had been erased by the rolling waves. "But I can't actually see Siegrain anywhere."

"Oh, you know what he's like," replied Natsu airily. "He's probably lying in wait, ready to collapse the cliff at the opportune moment so we all end up in the sea too."

"Yeah, either that, or he's drowning," joked Gray, and they all laughed.

Then the laughter died away.

Then they exchanged nervous glances.

"He _can_ swim, can't he?" Lucy asked Erza anxiously, who shrugged; she had no idea.

Gray ventured, "Has anyone actually seen him go in the water at all today?"

Everyone shook their heads.

"You know, I did find it a bit suspicious that he had come all the way to the beach without bringing swimming trunks," Erza remarked. "Now it suddenly makes sense."

"…Ah," said Juvia. "Juvia may have made a bit of a mistake."

"You can say that again!" Lucy practically exploded.

Erza had already leapt into action. Requipping a swimsuit, she flung herself from the top of the cliff and pulled into a perfect dive, slipping gracefully beneath the water's surface. The others raced down to the nearest stretch of beach in time to help Erza haul Jellal's limp body up onto the sand. He lay on his back with his eyes closed, his sodden hair plastered to his face, motionless as a piece of driftwood.

"I don't think he's breathing…" Gray observed, a worried note entering his voice. "Someone's gotta do CPR…"

" _Seriously?_ " Happy sighed in exasperation at the turn of events, but no one was paying him any attention. They were all looking at Erza, who seemed to panic, and refused to take her eyes off the sand.

"Don't be ridiculous," Lucy interjected. "Erza's not going to want their first kiss to be like that!"

From the spluttering sound coming from Erza's direction, her argument wasn't really helping.

"Well, someone's got to do something!" Gray urged.

"Juvia will do it," Juvia said suddenly. "It was Juvia's fault, and she doesn't want her friend to die just because she's a bit embarrassed!"

"Nah, I'll do it," Natsu breezed, jumping forwards and practically straddling the unconscious man before any of the others could stop him. "That way he'll owe me!"

"Do you even know what you're doing?" demanded Gray. "No, Natsu, stop, I'm pretty sure you're supposed to start with chest compressions-"

It was probably quite fortunate that at that moment Jellal's eyes snapped open, and his hand shot up to lock claw-like around Natsu's neck while the boy's face was still an inch away from his. " _Do you wanna die?_ " he snarled. The vicious threat was somewhat undermined, however, by the way he immediately rolled onto his side and began coughing up seawater.

"See, I knew that would wake him up," Natsu remarked cheerfully. Jellal paused in his choking just long enough to shoot him a venomous glare.

"Juvia is really, really sorry," began the anxious water mage.

He glared at her too, but nothing more than that. He didn't have the energy. Instead, he lay back down on the sand and stared up at the darkening sky. "I give up," he growled. "I just give up! I can't do this any more!"

"Can't do what?" Natsu inquired, eyes bright.

"Put up with your idiotic guild, that's what! I swear I've come close to dying more times over the past three weeks than in the rest of my life put together. I'm used to fighting dangerous opponents for the Council, but being almost killed _by accident_ is a new one."

"You'll get used to it."

"That's what I'm afraid of!"

Lucy interjected, "Siegrain, as much as I don't want to interrupt your complaining, are you okay to walk? The last train leaves in a few minutes, and if we miss it, we won't be able to get home tonight."

Jellal climbed to his feet with Erza's help, and then managed to stand on his own. "I'm not going to get on the train. I'll make my own way back."

"Are you sure?" Erza asked quietly.

"I'm sure. I want to be on my own for a bit."

Still, she pressed, "Is it really wise for you to be on your own right now? Aren't you still feeling dizzy from almost drowning?"

"I'm absolutely fine," he assured her. "Seriously." And, to prove his point, he spread his arms and stepped confidently forwards onto a large fallen palm frond – which promptly snapped in two, revealing the pitfall trap it had been hiding.

"Ah," said Natsu, as the aura of death seemed to rekindle itself around the half-buried Jellal. In an oddly strained voice, he said, "Well, you know, we really are cutting it fine with the last train, and if he says he's okay then he's probably okay…"

And then the entire Fairy Tail crew was hightailing it towards the station as the beach exploded with fury behind them.

* * *

Night fell.

Jellal returned to the top of the cliff from which he had failed yet again to kidnap Erza. There, sat upon a boulder a safe distance away from the edge, he watched the night settle upon the land and sea, and he thought about everything and nothing.

In this lonely world, he had not expected to be disturbed, and so his ears pricked up at the sound of approaching footsteps. He wondered if it was one of the resort's security guards, coming to find out what he was doing up here in the dark. What he would say if they asked? Not even he fully understood the tangle of emotions that seemed to think being up here was a good idea.

The footsteps stopped a few paces away from him, and a quiet voice asked, "Jellal?"

"Simon?" he answered, looking round in surprise. It was indeed his old friend and current subordinate from the Tower who had spoken; even in the gloom, the big man's silhouette was unmistakeable. "I thought you were away travelling."

"I just got back. I ran into Sho, Wally and Millianna down by the sea – some nitwit has dug pitfall traps all over the beach, so they're working overtime to try and fill them in before someone breaks their ankle and sues the resort. They said I might be able to find you here. Do you mind if I join you?"

"Go ahead."

Simon sat down beside him on the boulder. Neither of them spoke for a while. They watched the stars twinkling and fading between the scattered black clouds, and the swell of the silver-crested waves filled the silence. The sights and sounds of the night-time ocean were hardly new to those who had grown up in the Tower of Heaven, and yet this view seemed somehow different to anything they had seen before. The solitude and the serenity were unfamiliar to both of them.

"The others told me what happened today," Simon said, at last. "So, you finally told them the truth about Erza."

"You never did believe me about her, did you?"

"No," Simon confirmed, quiet and solemn. "I couldn't give up on her, no matter what you said. And I couldn't believe that you'd given up on her either. It always seemed more likely that you knew the truth and were deliberately lying to us than that you had so readily lost faith in her. I knew you felt the same way I did about her."

Jellal gave a short, harsh laugh. "I figured you were going to betray me at some point," he reflected dryly. "Well, it didn't matter then, and it doesn't matter now. I don't need you; I don't need _any_ of you. I can do the rest on my own."

"I know that." Complacent, and just as calm as before. "I can't stop you any more than I could have convinced the others of Erza's innocence. They wouldn't have believed it unless it came from you. This is no different. You're the only one who can put an end to it."

"And why would I do something like that?" Jellal laughed again, this time cynical and dark; a mocking sound to cut through the night. "My hand was forced today. That was the only reason why I acted as I did. My desires have not changed."

Simon considered this for a moment. "I'm sure you know that if you move against Erza after today, the others will try and stop you."

"Obviously, but as I just said-"

"But has it occurred to you that even if you choose a sacrifice other than Erza with which to activate the Tower, they might still oppose you?"

"…What do you mean?"

Again, the solemn man took his time in answering. "When we started working here at the resort, it was merely part of the plan to kidnap Erza. Since then, it's become… something more. We've been doing things that ordinary people do; interacting with others; living, I suppose, normal lives in the normal world. Before we came here, the Tower of Heaven was all we'd ever known. The rest of the world always seemed to us like something enormous, terrifying, hostile, and _evil…_ but it's not like that at all. It's actually… quite fun."

"So?" Jellal challenged.

" _So,_ sacrificing Erza to the Tower was always a personal grudge. The others wanted revenge on her because of her betrayal, and by extent, revenge upon the world which permitted such treachery and suffering. Now that they no longer have that motivation, they have no real reason to hate the world. Erza's betrayal can't be representative of human nature because it never happened. What we perceived of the world when we were slaves in the Tower was one dreadful, unforgiveable, and yet ultimately tiny part of what is really out there. Sure, the world isn't perfect, but there's far more to be gained by living here with the people we love than by destroying all the good along with the evil, and giving up any chance we have of finding peace in the process."

Jellal said nothing. If it wasn't so dark, Simon might have noticed the shadows dancing in his eyes, or the tension in his fists, or the ripples racing through the power he was barely suppressing.

Instead, he continued softly, "I know you've always wanted revenge upon those who enslaved us. But, you know… they wanted us to be unhappy. They wanted us to feel nothing but pain. They wanted us to be bound for the rest of our lives, if not by their chains, then by our hatred. Wouldn't, then, the perfect revenge be to live freely and happily, in whichever way we chose?"

" _Shut up_ ," Jellal snarled.

Previously, there had been some reluctant, even amenable, honesty in his tone; Simon understood him far too well for there to be any point in the lies and deception that came so naturally to him around others. Now, there was only hostility – and an open threat. His eyes blazed with a darkness that not even the starlight could penetrate. The air around him shimmered with uncontrolled power.

Simon jumped to his feet as if he had been stung. "Jellal-!" he tried, but his one-time friend was having none of it.

"Get out of here," Jellal hissed, and the thunder in the sky and the trembling of the earth and the cracks that spread of their own accord through the rock beneath him made it very clear what would happen if he didn't. " _Now._ And if you ever come near me again-"

There was no need for him to complete the threat. His old friend melted back into the darkness and was gone.

Even then, the storm raging around Jellal did not die away. He was standing now, because the boulder had crumbled to dust, and he was shaking so much he could barely stay upright. Each breath came heavy and vicious and bitter. He could hardly see; fireworks of red and black exploded in his vision. With no tangible target to direct it towards, the wind had picked up with his fury, and the waves below roared in the grip of a tempest.

He was angry, angrier than he had been in years, and woe betide anyone who crossed his path that night. Nothing compared to this – not being blackmailed by Makarov; not having to put his life on the line to save the guild he detested; not even having everything he had ever dreamed of snatched away from him time and time again by those blundering Fairy Tail buffoons.

This was a true fury, frightful and intense, and the truth of it shook him to the core: both his anger, and the reason _for_ that anger.

For even in the grip of madness, he knew full well why he had reacted so violently. It wasn't because Simon had dared to try and tell him what to do, or because he had claimed to know Erza or their friends better than Jellal himself did.

He was angry because he was scared.

There was a part of him that thought Simon might have had a point, and that terrified him.

* * *

 _ **A/N:** Bit of a mixed chapter this time, but I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless. All that silliness last week had some very serious repercussions, and it looks like things are really starting to change for Jellal. Next week's chapter will be on Sunday as usual... holiday itinerary permitting. ~CS_


	19. Airship Raid

**Kidnapping Erza**

By CrimsonStarbird

* * *

 **Chapter Nineteen: Airship Raid**

Jellal didn't return to Fairy Tail the next day, or the day after that. He didn't go back to the Tower of Heaven either, though that would normally have been his go-to place for when he wanted to be left alone. Instead, he had come here: to the penthouse apartment he owned in Era, the expensive official residence expected of a member of the Magic Council. There was nothing here to bother him, because this place had never felt like home.

And here was where he had been ever since. He hadn't gone back to the Council – after everyone in Fairy Tail and everyone from the Tower of Heaven, Ultear was next highest on his list of people to avoid. She had tried to get in touch with him at least once a day via his communication lacrima, but he had ignored her every time. There was a little spark of common sense in his dissociation and it prevented him from throwing the crystal out of the window, though it proved insufficient to guilt him into answering her call.

Instead, he did nothing. He walked round in circles, feet sinking into the plush cream carpet; he stared out of the many glass windows and watched the world go by; he thought about Zeref and he thought about Erza and any and all conclusions escaped him, until at last there came a knock at the door.

He had been lying on his bed at time, fully-clothed but spread-eagled upon the duvet, staring up at the pristine white ceiling. The first and second rounds of knocking did not provoke a reaction, but at the third, he dragged himself to his feet and opened the door.

In the corridor outside stood Fairy Tail's resident barmaid and silver-haired model, Mirajane Strauss. She raised a slender hand in greeting. "Hey."

Jellal slammed the door shut again.

He had barely turned around when the knocking resumed. "Can I come in?" Mira called to him through the door.

"No!" he shouted back.

"…Okay, but I have some messages for you, and I promised I'd deliver them, so do you mind if I stand out here in the corridor and shout them through the door?" She decided to interpret his silence as consent. "First, Juvia says she's really sorry about nearly drowning you and she'll do pretty much anything to make up for it if that's the reason you're not coming back to the guild. Natsu wants to check if you're okay, because he and Happy thought some of the shrimp you barbecued the other day didn't look so good. Makarov sends a reminder that you and he have an agreement, and if you don't come back to the guild soon-"

Jellal wrenched the door open again. "In," he growled.

With a smile, Mira slipped into the apartment, kicking off her shoes and immediately making herself at home. He did not invite her to sit down, but she didn't seem to mind. She swept around the vast living room, taking in the high ceiling, the enormous windows, the spotless carpet, the chic leather furniture, the polished silver fittings, and the general airy brightness of the place with an appreciative eye. Naturally, as a member of the Council, Jellal would have been expected to entertain important guests here. He had to keep the apartment looking respectable, even if he wouldn't normally have cared about something so mundane.

"How did you get this address?" he asked coldly.

"I went up to the Council and asked around."

"…And they just _told_ you?"

"In a matter of speaking." The slightly sinister edge to her smile disappeared so quickly he thought he must have imagined it.

"That's definitely a breach of confidentiality…" Jellal grumbled.

"I got the impression they didn't really like you all that much." Shrugging, as if she really was just recounting a fact rather than trying to insult him, she glanced once again around the apartment. "I was expecting something like your furniture-less flat in Magnolia, but this is quite a classy place you have here. I'm impressed. Is that a jet ski over there?"

The question was somewhat unnecessary. The great green and black jet ski standing up against one of the living room walls wasn't doing a great job of blending in with the furniture.

"It's the one Erza and I rented the other day," he explained reluctantly. "I broke it, so they weren't going to give Erza's deposit back, and their insurance claims process seemed like a pain, so I figured it would be easier if I just bought it from them outright. I don't have a garage at the moment, so it's living in here."

It had very much been a spur-of-the-moment decision, made back when the exhilaration of the ride and the satisfaction of his victory were still fresh in his mind. He may have been a councillor, but he didn't have _quite_ that much cash to be throwing around. It had occurred to him that if he captured Sho, Wally and Millianna and turned them over to the authorities as dark mages – which, technically, they _were_ – he might have been able to claim the cost of the jet ski on expenses, but he had a feeling that might create more problems than it solved.

On the plus side, he had already identified some potential cost-cutting measures for his evil cult. If he terminated his contract with the assassin guild he had defending the Tower, he could recoup the cost of the jet ski in a few months. At least he had his priorities straight.

"I can't imagine you'll get much use out of it in Era," Mira commented. "You're not exactly near the sea, are you?"

"It's more of a status symbol than anything else, really…" Jellal floundered.

"You know, that enormous lake close to Magnolia is supposed to be good for water sports. You don't even need a permit to use personal watercraft there."

"What's your point?"

She turned to face him suddenly, a serious look in her eyes. "You need to come back to Fairy Tail. The Master said he's prepared to overlook your absence over the past couple of days because of all the help you've given the guild recently, but your credit's running out. The agreement was for thirty days. You can't back out now."

Shoving his hands into his pockets in a defiant gesture, Jellal let his glare speak for him.

"If you've been avoiding the guild because you were worried about how the Master would react when he discovered the damage you did to the haunted house, then you can relax, because we've sorted that," she persisted. "Everyone except Natsu was quite adamant that the damage was entirely Natsu's fault, and they asked me to work out a way we could get the repair bill through the guild's accounts without you being blamed for it. I stuck the repairs under travel expenses, did the column in units of thousands of jewels rather than just jewels, and made sure the Master had had several pints before giving him the accounts to look over… and I don't _think_ he noticed anything suspicious. You should be safe to return."

"I don't care about that."

Mira hadn't been expecting gratitude, but she seemed a little sad nonetheless. "You need to come back. Everyone's really worried. Juvia's upset, because she believes that it's her fault you don't want to return. Lucy still feels guilty about ruining your date – _again_ – and even Natsu admitted he had gone too far. And Erza… Erza's terrified. She's become paranoid that she said something wrong or misunderstood your actions… she's convinced that you're avoiding her because she screwed up somewhere along the way. You have to do something about that."

"I do?" he asked, startled by the unexpected ferocity in her tone.

"If your absence has nothing to do with her, then you need to make that clear. And if it _is_ something she did, you need to be open with her about it, rather than running away like this. You have that much responsibility, at least."

"Erza…" A sudden thought occurred to him, and he wondered aloud, "She was going to ask me something when we were on the beach; something serious."

"What was it?"

"Don't know. I never found out, because Juvia pushed me off a cliff. Erza didn't bring it up again afterwards… though I suppose the others had caught up with us by then."

Consuming curiosity shone in Mira's eyes, making her appear momentarily demonic. "Intriguing. If something's happened between the two of you, I can be the go-between. You know me; I'm always happy to help out when it comes to relationships."

"No, you're just nosy," Jellal retorted, seeing through her cover straight away. "And that's why you're here, isn't it? You just wanted the chance to butt into my personal affairs."

"Alas, I am unmasked," she grinned.

"I did wonder why _you,_ of all people."

"The Master was going to send the surveillance footage straight to the press if you didn't show up again tomorrow, so someone had to come. In fairness, although Erza seems to be of the opinion that you don't want to see her, Lucy, Levy, Juvia and Natsu all volunteered to come. Unfortunately, we're really busy at the moment, so the guild can't afford to lose any of its top members for a full day travelling to Era. But I'm not really of any use to the guild when it comes to doing jobs, so I came here instead."

"So, what, you're like the guild's errand girl?"

"More or less."

"Why don't you fight any more?"

Startled by the sudden change of topic, Mira stopped examining the controls on the jet ski and turned to look directly at him. "What?"

"Something Natsu mentioned during the road race. He said he's always looking for strong opponents to challenge because there aren't any in the guild: Erza thinks it's childish, Laxus is never around, and you don't fight any more. Why'd you stop?"

When she didn't answer, he pressed, "And your magic. It's there, but also not there. I can only see it when I'm not looking for it. It's broken. Or rather… your connection to it is broken."

With a small smile, she admitted, "Most people can't sense my magic at all. I suppose that's a Wizard Saint for you."

Mira walked over to one of the great floor-to-ceiling windows and gazed out. When she spoke, she did so with such a distant sadness that he was willing to bet it wasn't the city she was seeing. "You've met my brother, Elfman, in the guild… but we had a younger sister too. Lisanna."

"Oh," he said, in a small voice; guessing where this was going. She did not seem to hear him.

"It happened two years ago. I'd just passed the S-Class Trials; I was overconfident. I took Elfman and Lisanna along with me on the most difficult mission I could find. I thought I'd be able to handle anything. But the monster we were sent to defeat beat me down, and Elfman was forced to try and help me in the only way he could. He attempted a Take Over on the beast, but it failed… he lost control.

"I was so scared. I didn't know what to do. And when I was weak and indecisive and consumed by panic, Lisanna tried to bring Elfman back, and… the beast killed her. Elfman blames himself, but he's wrong. I was the responsible one; I was the one who put them both in danger and then froze when they needed me the most. I don't fight any more because I _can't_. Every time I try to use magic, I see Lisanna being struck down. I can't make it stop."

An uncomfortable silence fell. Jellal knew he ought to have guessed that the explanation was along those lines. Severe trauma was one of the few things that could cause a mage's magic to become so disjointed, but it hadn't occurred to him that there might have been a reason as dark as that behind Mira's retirement from guild work. Perhaps it was because she always seemed so cheerful and open around the guild. But then, Erza seemed happy too, didn't she? And he knew better than anyone the scarring hidden by her armour.

He was reminded suddenly of his brief encounter with Laxus, and he wondered just how much darkness there was behind the guild's everyday smiles. He had thought this guild idiotically simple, yet at the same time, it seemed more complex than he had ever given it credit for.

"I'm sorry," he said, without thinking. "I shouldn't have asked."

"It's alright." To his surprise, Mira was still smiling her usual gentle smile. "It's not as though not talking about it can make it never have happened. Besides, everyone in the guild knows, so you'd have found out soon enough."

He didn't know what to say to that, so he didn't say anything at all. She didn't seem to mind. Clasping her hands behind her back, she returned her attention to the street far below them. "You know," she resumed, "The guild is so good for things like that."

"What do you mean?"

"Everyone knows what I did, but they don't hold it against me. Even afterwards, when I returned to the guild broken and unable to use magic properly, they still found a place for me. Maybe the only thing I'm good for now is working at the bar and running errands, but… Lisanna would be angry enough if she found out I was no longer a mage. She'd never forgive me if I gave up completely. So I'm grateful to the Master and the guild for letting me stay.

"That's what I meant earlier, about the guild. The past is the past. Whatever you've been through, no one in Fairy Tail will make you talk about it until you're ready. It's not okay to forget about the mistakes we've made, but we understand that everyone has their own way of dealing with them, and we don't interfere any more than is necessary. We're not here to judge each other for the dark times we've been through. We're here to help each other live despite them."

"That sounds ridiculously soppy to me."

As usual, his half-hearted attempt at a scathing tone didn't bother her in the slightest. "That includes you too, you know. What was it Erza said to me the other day? Oh, yes – that you were the first person she'd met who made her feel like it was okay not to hate her past."

" _What?_ " he demanded, or tried to; shock had stolen all the force from his voice and the word came out as little more than a whisper. " _Erza_ said that? About _me?_ "

"She did. Now, what else did she say? _What happened, happened…_ and something about it not mattering whether it was good or bad, because it brought her here."

Jellal sat down suddenly into an armchair, staring at his hands in utter bafflement. "She's just… _okay_ with it? Even now, she wouldn't hold it against me…?"

"What's this about?" Mira interjected; bright, cheeky, intrigued.

"None of your business," he snapped, hostility jumping immediately back into his voice.

"You can tell me. I might be able to help!"

"You just repeated to me things that Erza told you in confidence. If I tell you anything, everyone in the guild will know about it by nightfall."

"Drat," she grinned. "Well, I thought it was worth a try. I'm sorry for prying into your private affairs."

"It's alright."

From the sharp look she shot him, she had clearly been expecting him to make a fuss as usual, so he just shook his head, adding, "It's not as though I can complain, after what I asked you earlier."

After a moment, she smiled. "You're actually quite kind, aren't you?"

"What?"

"I'm used to you being rude and unfriendly, but today, you've actually been rather considerate. It makes me wonder which is the real you. Are you naturally rude, and just being polite to me because we're in Era, where you're so used to being diplomatic that it has just become an instinct? Or are you actually a kind and sensitive person, who's just putting on unfriendliness around Fairy Tail?"

"…Do you just say whatever's in your head without thinking about how stupid it might sound out loud?"

"Yes, I think I do," Mira agreed merrily. "I'd make a dreadful politician, wouldn't I?"

"To be honest, sometimes I think that sort of thing is exactly what those self-important old fools need."

"Aren't you also one of those self-important old fools?"

"Nah." He waved the back of his hand through the air, where the deep blue Fairy Tail mark shone clearly in a room of white and silver. "I've got at least another week before I have to start being careful what I say about them again."

"So, you'll be back at work starting from tomorrow, then?" she grinned.

"Makarov isn't giving me a choice, is he?" Jellal retorted.

"In that case, my work here is done." She strode towards the apartment's front door. "I'll see you tomorrow morning."

There was a slight smile on Jellal's face, but as the door swung shut behind her and silence settled once more upon the high-end apartment, that smile quickly faded. She had swept in from nowhere and vanished just as quickly, a silver-haired hurricane, and the world that she had shaken up had not quite returned to its original place. A new link had been slipped into the cycle of thoughts racing around his mind.

 _Even now, she wouldn't hold it against me._

"But that doesn't mean it didn't happen, Erza," he growled. "It doesn't mean anything has changed."

And the immaculate carpets and the dust-free furniture and the shining white walls, which seemed somehow less welcoming than a dirty old flat with neither curtains nor a bed, had no response to that.

* * *

It didn't take long for Jellal to discover just why Mira and the others were so keen on having him back in the guild.

Presently, he was collapsed into a chair at the end of one of the guildhall's long tables, a few days after Mira had paid him a visit in Era. He wasn't arguing with anyone, or deliberately ignoring anyone, or even being rude to anyone – he was just staring blankly at the ceiling. Only the sound of a nearby chair scraping along the floor drew his focus back into the room in time to see Erza and Lucy sitting down opposite him, both of them carrying plates piled high with food.

"Hey," said Erza.

"Hey," came his awkward response, and that, as he had come to expect, was about as far as they got before someone else called his name.

He turned to see Levy stood behind him. Well, the voice had been Levy's, though it seemed to have come from four enormous rolls of material, which were stood on end like a little thicket of bamboo. A pair of sandals protruded from the bottom, while two thin arms wrapped around the rolls held them upright.

"Any chance you could help me put these banners up?" asked the rolls.

"Why me?" he grumbled. "Can't you ask someone else for a change?"

"No, it has to be you, since you can fly."

"What, is a ladder not good enough for you?"

"We don't have a ladder tall enough!"

"…Where are you putting these banners? The ceiling?"

But, despite his complaints, he got to his feet. He took two of the rolls from Levy and hefted them onto his shoulders, and then tagged along as she set off through the guildhall, half-listening to her enthusiastic plans for precisely where they were going to hang the banners.

And this was by no means an isolated incident. In fact, it was entirely representative of the last few days he had spent at the guild. No sooner had he sat down than someone else needed his help, and he was off again: carrying, lifting, sorting, painting, unloading, gluing, and not getting a single moment to himself.

Mira hadn't been exaggerating when she told him how busy it was in Fairy Tail. What she had failed to mention was that this busyness wasn't the result of a sudden influx of jobs, or anything else normal which Jellal could cope with, but the upcoming Harvest Festival.

By all accounts, this was a major event in the guild's calendar. Then again, Fairy Tail, being Fairy Tail, hadn't thought to look at said calendar until it was almost too late. Going by what they had to do before the parade at the end of the week, they should have started preparing for it at least a month in advance. But they had done nothing at all, hadn't even mentioned it, until all of a sudden there was only a week to go, and then they had started doing _everything._ Compared to the clockwork running of the Council, this place was a mess of disorganization.

There were parade floats to build, costumes to make, the guildhall – and, apparently, the entire town – to decorate, a banquet to plan, dances to choreograph, and all sorts of events to help out with… and despite Jellal's insistence that he wanted nothing to do with it and it wasn't his sort of thing anyway, Makarov was adamant that he had to pull his weight around the guildhall.

More than once, Jellal had wondered if Makarov had chosen thirty days as the period of his punishment just so that his final day would coincide with this stupid Fantasia Parade. There was a part of him still clinging to the hope that he might be out of here and back in the Tower before Makarov could rope him into participating, but the sensible part of him acknowledged that this was looking less and less likely by the day. They were working him so hard he barely had the chance to consider the questions that had been plaguing his mind since his conversation with Simon, let alone actually come up with a plan to kidnap Erza.

And, speaking of Erza… well, with them both being constantly called away to help out with things, they hadn't had much of a chance to talk to each other. On the couple of occasions when they had got further than merely exchanging greetings, she hadn't tried to bring up what had or hadn't been said between them that evening atop the cliff. Perhaps it hadn't been important after all.

Besides, how was he supposed to worry about Erza when he hardly had time for sleep? The guild had tried forcing him to stick to their rules; they had tried beating him down with their road race; they had tried to get him killed with their reckless handling of evil artefacts; and now, at last, they had finally come up with a new way of driving him insane – and it involved banners, balloons, and copious amounts of glue.

So it came to pass that day twenty-eight of Jellal's forced conscription into Fairy Tail's ranks found him in an even worse mood than usual. Not even the cloudless skies and the sympathetic breeze as he walked to the guildhall could make up for his utter, frustrated exhaustion. Even worse, after he had successfully managed to sneak out for a few hours yesterday under the cover of doing an easy job in the town, Makarov had expressly forbidden him from going on any more jobs until preparations for the parade were complete. Which meant that all he had to look forward to was another day of menial tasks with annoying people, instead of getting closer to destroying this stupid world and all its stupid parades. He was pretty sure that no one had ever made _Zeref_ do arts and crafts.

Seething inwardly, Jellal had just entered the street leading to the guildhall when a strange sensation stopped him in his tracks. Something was tugging at his mind – someone was trying to communicate with him telepathically. He still carried his communication lacrima in his pocket out of habit, even though he had stopped answering Ultear's calls. But it wasn't Ultear's presence he sensed now – and this person was not one he could so easily ignore.

Curious despite himself, he reached into his pocket and touched the lacrima, opening the mental connection. "Chairman?"

"Councillor Siegrain," came the solemn tones of the Chairman of the Magic Council.

"What is it?"

Jellal hardly dared to breathe. Could it be? Was the Chairman finally going to intervene with Makarov and bring him back to the Council? It was four weeks too late, but better that than never, and if the Chairman could get him out of another day of painting parade floats then Jellal might even be inclined to forgive him for the past four weeks of silence.

"There has been a situation. I'd like for you to resolve it."

"…What?"

"A luxury airship carrying a hundred civilian passengers has been hijacked by rogue mages. Your job is to intercept the airship, rescue the innocents on board, and apprehend the hijackers. You are to rendezvous immediately with the Rune Knights garrisoned at Neiman Outpost and-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Jellal interjected, astonished. "Hang on a minute. I am not the Council's errand boy! You don't just call me up whenever something happens and order me to fix your problems for you!"

"You are not only a member of the Magic Council, but a Wizard Saint in our direct employ. Whenever a crisis such as this arises, it is your duty to-"

"Oh, no you don't," he snarled back, as all the frustration of the past four weeks rose to the surface at once. "Don't you dare talk to me about duty! For the last four weeks I have been stuck here, a prisoner of this ridiculous guild, and did you do anything about it? No! You're the Chairman of the Magic Council! If you'd ordered Makarov to let me go he would have had no choice but to obey, and yet you chose to leave me here to suffer! And now that you want something from me, all of a sudden I'm a valued colleague again?

"So, you know what? Screw you, and screw the Council. Find someone else to sort out your mess. I'm not doing it. And maybe next time one of your Wizard Saints needs help, you'll remember just how much you need them on your side before you abandon them."

He slammed the mental link shut so viciously that a crack darted across the surface of the lacrima. Returning it to his pocket with an audible growl, he resumed his walk towards the guildhall in an even worse mood than before, and by the time he shoved open the front doors and strode inside, he was just about ready to murder someone.

No one in the guildhall noticed his dramatic arrival. They were… otherwise preoccupied.

A large cauldron lay on its side in the centre of the room, slowly oozing the last of its contents onto the floor, and it hadn't occurred to anyone to right it again. They were too busy trying to catch a gooey humanoid monstrosity which was running rampant round the guildhall. Either someone had managed to summon a soup-demon from another world… or Mira had been trialling her new vegetable soup recipe for the harvest banquet and someone had fallen – or probably been pushed, knowing this guild – into the cauldron.

Jellal watched as the soup-blinded figure veered aside at the last minute, and the ice that was supposed to be freezing him in place missed – and tore up a half-finished parade float instead.

He remembered the hours he had spent yesterday painting that float with Juvia and Lucy.

He saw all the hard and demeaning work he had done in good faith for the guild's celebrations vanish into a shower of wooden shards, ice crystals, and puréed vegetables.

And his anger and frustration and hatred were immediately swamped by an all-consuming mire of despair.

"Did I really just turn down my first proper job in four weeks in order to spend another day with this stupid guild?" he asked himself in disbelief. "What the hell was I thinking?"

And he turned around and walked straight out of the guildhall.

As he returned to the street outside, he slipped his hand into his pocket for the lacrima once more. He did not see Erza passing by in the other direction. He was certainly too distracted to notice the way she froze when she saw him, as if torn between calling out to him and using his moment of preoccupation to slip into the guildhall unnoticed.

"Hey, Chairman," Jellal said, as casually as possible. "Yeah, it's me again… Look, my plans have kind of fallen through, and you know how much I love protecting the innocent… no, of course that isn't sarcasm. Neiman Outpost, you said? I'll be right there. Tell the Knights I'm on my way."

And he vanished into the sky in a burst of light.

Erza's hand went subconsciously to the hilt of her sword as she watched him fly away. "I have a bad feeling about this…"

* * *

It wasn't all that unusual for Jellal to do jobs for the Council in his capacity as a Wizard Saint.

Before he had been appointed to the Council, he had been the only Wizard Saint who worked for the Council full-time from Era – the others belonged primarily to their guilds, like Makarov, or else worked freelance, taking on missions from the Council if they happened to be around and only when it suited their own agendas. Thus, whenever a crisis arose that was too dangerous, too short-notice, or too wrapped up in the Council's private affairs to send to the guilds, he had been their first port of call. His phenomenal power and his proficiency in resolving such missions had played a major role in his nomination to the Council.

Now that he was on the Council itself, there were political complications involved in him suppressing a dark guild or other criminal group by force, but such jobs still cropped up from time to time. This situation with the airship seemed to be one of them. Jellal couldn't immediately see why they had gone straight over the Rune Knights – who handled most situations of this ilk – and called him in, but he supposed the logistical difficulty of getting a whole platoon of Knights into the sky to confront the hijackers had played a part. While there would be some Knights whose magic allowed them to fly like him, they wouldn't be nearly as competent at fighting alone as he was, since all their training focussed on group combat.

So he was unlikely to get any backup on this mission, but that suited him just fine. He worked better alone.

The Chairman had clearly informed the Knights at Neiman Outpost that Jellal was on his way, because by the time he landed in front of the small garrison, the Knight Captain was already waiting to greet him. "Councillor Siegrain, sir!" he said, with a sharp salute.

Jellal had grown so accustomed to the utter lack of respect with which the Fairy Tail mages treated him that he stared at the man for a full five seconds before finding his voice. "What's the situation?"

"A group of dark mages unknown has seized control of the civilian airship and diverted from its original course. They're currently heading due south, towards Magnolia, and will pass directly over this garrison in about fifteen minutes. The fate of the passengers and crew is not known, but most likely, the hijackers are holding them hostage within the ship. Under the Council's orders, we're preparing our Jupiter Cannon, but we cannot bring down the airship if there's any chance that there might be civilians on board."

Jellal nodded slowly. "Have the hijackers issued any demands?"

"No, sir."

"No?"

"We have yet to receive any communication from them, and they are ignoring all our attempts to contact them using the airship's radio receiver."

"So we don't know who they are or what they want," Jellal frowned. "Alright, then. Tell me what we _do_ know. What sort of airship are we talking about here?"

The Captain handed him a technical sketch of the ship. "The _Grand Hurricane._ She's brand new – the most advanced airship of her class. This is only her third voyage."

Even Jellal was impressed by the airship in the picture. She was a rigid-body airship: her hull was a long, tapered cylinder, an envelope of stormy-grey fabric covering a rigid metal framework, within which enormous gas cells provided the lift. That was where the similarities to the early airships ended. Rather than the traditional small gondola for passengers that hung underneath, the main body of the airship was almost as large as the lift cylinder again. It was reminiscent of a pirate ship, with its enormous swordfish-like spiked prow, except this was a beast of steel and glass and light rather than mere wood. At the rear of the craft, two enormous jet engines jutted out from each side, complex magic circles sketched just in front of each one.

"And still the Council hesitates to invest in air technology," Jellal remarked. "She's a monster. Perhaps the ship herself is what the hijackers are after."

"Perhaps, but she is a civilian vessel. She has no military capability."

"I suppose. I'd be a lot happier if I knew what they were after, that's all." Jellal handed the picture back and glanced towards the northern sky. There wasn't a single blemish in the beautiful blue, manmade or otherwise. "Still, it doesn't change what I have to do: get up there, take back control of the ship, and beat the crap out of the hijackers for making me help the Council after everything they did to me."

"…Yes, sir," the Captain said with a nervous smile, deciding it was probably best not to comment. "The prototype plane is fuelled and ready to fly-"

"I don't need it," Jellal interrupted him. "I have much more faith in my own magic to get me up there safely than in our engineering department's latest experiment, which may or may not get off the ground."

"I'm well aware of that, sir. But, and with all possible respect, we didn't know if you were going to show up. We had the plane prepared just to be on the safe side."

"Then make sure it stays in the garage. Don't try and follow me – you'll only get in my way. I'll be in touch via the airship's radio once I've taken control of the bridge."

"Yes, sir." The Captain nodded and gave a final salute, and then Jellal was in the air once more.

* * *

Now _this_ was more like it.

There was something about the rush of the wind against his face that stripped away the last vestiges of his anger. Jellal flew so often – for transportation, for convenience, for battle – that ever since he had mastered the skill he took it for granted. Every now and then, though, something happened to set his heart racing with the very same thrill he felt the first time he had discovered that gravity could not bind his magic. Effortlessly keeping pace with a monster of an airship turned out to be one of them.

There was an indescribable joy in the way the ground dropped away beneath him, and a freedom in the sky that seemed so far away from the guild or the Council or the Tower. Here he was alone, unbound by the rules of the guild or the danger of a double life, or even by Erza; he had left all his worries down on the ground. Looping, swirling, curving, arcing, a golden bolt of light in the sky, he caught the airship easily and drew up alongside her, glancing through the windows that covered her body like a dragon's scales.

Up close, she was both more and less impressive than she had been in the sketch. More, because it was only in real life that her immense size could truly be appreciated, and the incredible magical vortices surging at the hearts of the jet engines could be perceived in all their furious majesty. Less, because for all her might, she was cumbersome in the air compared to how freely he turned and wove and danced around her, and he had nothing to fear from her.

Suddenly accelerating, he veered sharply to the left and smashed straight through one of the airship's windows. He registered the touch of a luxurious rug beneath his hands as he broke his fall with a roll and was immediately back on his feet, scanning the room for enemies. From the antique furniture, the bulging drinks cabinets, and the stately decorations, this was likely an executive lounge of some sort, but of far more interest than the furnishings were the two young men who had sprung to their feet at Jellal's unexpected entrance.

One whipped out a gun and sent a flurry of magical bullets towards the intruder; Jellal took that as a sign that negotiations were out of the question. His body felt light and strong. He bounded out of the way, using the seat of a plush armchair as a springboard to flip straight over a second round of missiles. His foot knocked the weapon from his enemy's grasp; a heartbeat later, he landed, pivoted, and a second kick flung his opponent towards the windows with the force of a cannon.

"Whoops, better not," Jellal remarked, his magic kicking in as he launched himself in the same direction. A fall from this height would be fatal, and he was supposed to be acting as a responsible Wizard Saint today. With astounding speed, he overtook his opponent moments before he could smash through the glass, and another spinning kick drove him back towards the centre of the room, where he collapsed safely – in a manner of speaking – across an antique coffee table.

Panicking, the second mage eschewed magic completely in favour of hurling the nearest china vase at the intruder. Jellal ducked it, leaving it to shatter harmlessly on the floor – well, harmlessly to him, though probably not to the airship's insurance company – and then returned the favour by clubbing his opponent around the head with an antique footstool. His enemy fell at his feet, out for the count.

There was a slight smile on Jellal's face as his gaze moved from the unconscious forms of his opponents to the room's single exit. So, it was to be a simple matter of fighting his way up to the boss. That sounded good. His heart was pounding as he contemplated the task before him, but it wasn't a symptom of fear.

How long had it been since he had done something like this? The past few weeks in Fairy Tail felt as though they had dragged on forever – pretending to be a councillor, following the guild's laws and taking their punishments, having to interact with other people, and grappling constantly with the monumental task of kidnapping Erza… no, it had started before then, hadn't it?

From the moment he had been nominated to the Council, whereupon impressing them with his might was no longer necessary, he had been so focussed on putting the finishing touches to the Tower of Heaven and coming up with a plan to obtain his living sacrifice that he had forgotten just how much fun doing a job like this could be. It was a true test of his skill; just him and his magic and the bad guys. The excitement, and the challenge – yes, he had missed this.

The distant sound of shattering glass brought his attention firmly back into the room. It was possible that there was still fighting going on elsewhere on the ship. He shouldn't be wasting time here.

Wrenching open the door, he found himself face to face with an unfamiliar woman. Just as with his previous opponents, there was nothing about her trendy outfit to mark her out as a criminal, but the way she immediately began hurling explosive magic at him settled the matter. A burst of his own power left her blinking in confusion at the now-empty corridor; she was unconscious before she had even worked out he was behind her. There was no need for him to overuse his magic by fighting fairly before he got to the enemy leader.

Like the two men he had battled previously, a cursory check failed to turn up any guild mark or other symbol of allegiance openly displayed on her body. That was slightly concerning – even the mark of a dark guild would have given him some idea of who he was up against. Still, there was nothing to be gained from standing here worrying when there were civilians who might be in trouble. Whoever his enemy was, he had to put an end to their game as quickly as possible.

Grinning to himself at the thrill of the upcoming encounter, he set off down the corridor at a jog, knocking out every enemy he came across and barely receiving a scratch in return. Yes, this was more like it: enemies, adventure, and not a single Fairy Tail mage in sight. What could be better?

Upon reaching the foot of a sweeping set of stairs that wouldn't have been out of place in a country manor, Jellal paused for the first time. In all likelihood, the enemy commander would be on the bridge, which meant he had to head upwards. On the other hand, he could hear the sounds of a heated battle coming from behind a nearby door, and if members of the crew were still putting up a fight against the hijackers, helping them ought to be his priority.

While he was deliberating, two enemies appeared at the far end of the corridor. They saw him at the same time as he saw them, and both sides instantly prepared to attack.

As it happened, both lost out to a third party, who came crashing through the door – leaving a human-shaped hole behind him – to collide with Jellal, knocking him straight off his feet. Pinned to the floor, Jellal looked up at his new opponent – to find himself face-to-face with a nightmare.

A pink-haired, scarf-wearing, bright-eyed nightmare.

"Found him!" Natsu called cheerfully over his shoulder.

Jellal's eyes suddenly narrowed. "Oh, I see. My enemies are using some kind of magic that takes the thing I like the least and makes a copy of it appear."

Natsu frowned at him. "Well, that's just rude."

In one easy move, Jellal flung the boy off him and was instantly on his feet. One hand wrapped around Natsu's neck and slammed him back against the nearest wall. "You won't fool me, illusion."

"Hey! I'm completely real!" protested the boy, scrabbling at the hand around his neck.

"That's exactly what an illusion would say."

"But it's also what someone who isn't an illusion would say, if you think about it," Natsu pointed out helpfully.

"He's real," an amused voice interjected from the far end of the corridor. Erza dispatched the enemy mages with two slashes of her sword, which she calmly sheathed as she turned around, smiling at Jellal. "We're both real."

"Hmm." Jellal fixed Natsu with a baleful look. "Are you sure? Perhaps I should strangle him anyway, just to be on the safe side."

"I'd rather you didn't," Erza sighed.

At that moment, Natsu seemed to decide that oxygen was more important than manners. He seized Jellal's wrist with both hands, which immediately burst into flame, forcing his captor to let go. However, no sooner had Natsu's feet touched the ground than he immediately collapsed in a heap at Jellal's feet. Apparently luxurious décor wasn't enough to fool Natsu's body into thinking it was on solid ground.

Jellal regarded the pitiful sight before him with a heavy sigh. "Yeah, I hate to admit it, but that's the real Natsu. What are you two – three – doing here?" He amended his question as Happy shot through the Natsu-shaped hole in the door, lifting his partner into the air by the collar and shaking him down. "This had better not be another one of your _coincidences_ , like that time you all just happened to be going to the exact same beach resort as me…"

"Oh, no, we followed you here on purpose," Natsu told him, his usual perkiness returning now that Happy was very generously suspending him above the floor of the airship. "See, Erza overheard you yelling at the Magic Council this morning, and then when you didn't return to the guild, she got kinda worried. We asked Cana to find out where you were and what was going on, so she did a reading and turned over all sorts of ominous cards like Death and The Tower… only she passed out before she could actually interpret them for us."

"In her defence, she had spent the entire morning taste-testing new ales for the Harvest Festival," Erza explained.

Natsu resumed, "Anyway, by this point, we were all pretty concerned, so when we heard the news about the hijacking that was taking place close to where you were, we thought we'd head out after you and find out what was really going on. But only Erza with her winged armour and me with Happy could actually make it up to the airship. The others are still stuck down on the ground somewhere."

"So let me get this straight," Jellal began incredulously. "You followed me all the way out here based on half an overheard conversation, a news report that might have been completely irrelevant, and the very definition of a dodgy tarot card reading?"

"Of course! We thought you were in trouble! We came to help!"

"…I have never been more insulted in my life."

Natsu blinked at him, having clearly been under the impression that he had done something good. "Huh?"

"You thought _I_ was in trouble? _Me?_ And that even if I was, there was something an upstart Dragon Slayer who doesn't even rank as S-Class in his own guild could do about the situation that I, a Wizard Saint with years of experience in handling crises such as these, could not?"

After a moment's consideration, Natsu simply beamed at him.

"Go back to your guild!" Jellal snapped, unimpressed.

"Nah, we're here now. We might as well help out."

"I don't want your help! And I certainly don't need it! You're only going to get in my way!"

"So, you're going to secure the whole airship by yourself, are you?"

"Yes! And I don't want to have to be worrying about you at the same time-"

His argument was cut off abruptly as Erza placed a cool hand on his arm. "We're staying. I don't care whether or not you want our help. The fact remains that there are civilians in danger and dark mages on the loose. It is our duty, as guild mages, to protect the innocents who have been caught up in this catastrophe. That would be the case if you were here working for the Council or not."

They looked at each other. Jellal knew in that moment that there was nothing he could say – truth or lie, logical or emotional, an argument or a command – that would change her mind. Her resolve simply would not be broken.

Jellal gave a defeated sigh. "Fine, you can stay. But this is _my_ mission. You've got to follow my instructions, alright?"

"Very well," Erza nodded. "You're the one the Council sent, so we'll stick with you on this."

"Great!" Natsu exclaimed, clapping his hands together. "Race you two to the enemy boss! Happy, let's go!"

"Aye, sir!"

"Not so fast." Jellal caught the cat by the scruff of his neck; Happy and his passenger swung limply in his grip. "What did I just say, Natsu? I'm the one giving the orders here, and we're not going up to the bridge just yet. There's something I want to check first."

"Fiiiiine…"

A dejected Natsu floated morosely behind Jellal and Erza as they set off along the corridor, looking for a way down. The 'Authorized Personnel Only' sign upon a promising steel hatch had about as much effect on Jellal as that sort of warning usually did on Fairy Tail mages; he shattered the bolt holding it shut with a burst of light, forced open the hatch, and began to descend the metal rungs of a ladder into total darkness.

There were no windows in this part of the ship. They were somewhere deep within its belly, where guests were never meant to venture; the lavish furnishings had been cast aside in favour of efficient steel and narrow, futuristic corridors, lined with hissing pipes and thick sparking wires. The rumbling of the engines filled the entire metallic world. The floor trembled with it, and the ceiling creaked, and their hearts caught the vibrations; shaken ever so slightly out of the rhythms they preferred.

"What are we doing down here?" Erza asked.

"Something you said has been bugging me," Jellal replied. They reached a fork in the corridor; he took the right-hand route, leading them on with the light radiating from his raised hand. The growling of the engines intensified. "About it being the duty of a guild mage to help out in situations like this. I was wondering why the Chairman was so determined to make _me_ sort out this mess, especially when I haven't done any work for the Council in weeks. Even if he deemed it dangerous enough to require a Wizard Saint's presence, why ask for me on my own? If he'd sent a request to the nearby guilds for aid, plenty of mages with some sort of flying ability would have put themselves forward like you and Natsu did – even if it was just to get as many civilians safely back down to the ground as possible. But they didn't. They asked for me alone."

"And you think you know why?"

"I think it's because there's something on this ship they don't want anyone outside the Council to know about." Jellal blasted down another door and they emerged into a much larger chamber: the engine room. There was so much magic here that they could taste it – oil and smoke and the hot crackling humidity that preceded an electrical storm. "If I'm right, it'll be here, where the magic of the engines will mask its presence completely."

"What are we looking for?" Erza asked.

"A hidden compartment. There'll be a door or hatch of some sort in the walls or floor-"

"Like this one?" Natsu checked, and it was possibly the only time Jellal had ever been glad that Natsu had interrupted him. He and Happy were floating next to a stack of crates. A faint silvery glow emanated through a chink in the pile.

It took no time at all for the three of them to shift the stack aside. Behind it stood a steel door, identical to all the ones Jellal had blasted his way through to reach this place, save for one abnormality: it had no handle, nor any other obvious way of opening it. Instead, a silver seal of magic hovered half an inch in front of it, formed of layer upon layer of runes which winked in and out of existence in accordance with some obscure sequence.

"As I thought," Jellal observed grimly. "This is a mule ship." In response to the puzzled looks the others threw him, he explained, "It's a term the Council uses for a civilian ship which is being used to transport dangerous magical artefacts without the passengers' knowledge."

"The Council transports its artefacts – artefacts that any dark mage would _kill_ for – on board ships full of unaware civilians?" Erza demanded, horrified. "Is that _legal?_ "

"Absolutely not. But that's why it's so effective. As long as society continues to believe we would never endanger our own people like that, it never even occurs to dark mages to look for deadly weapons on board a civilian vessel. We move most of our low-level artefacts in the publicized way – official wagon trains guarded by a platoon of Rune Knights – but then once or twice a year, when we have to transfer something particularly valuable or dangerous out of the Archives, we use a mule ship. The owner of the ship is the only person who knows – not the captain, crew, or passengers. No one suspects a thing, and nothing we've moved in this way has ever come under threat."

"Who knows about this?" Erza queried.

"Most of the Council. And a couple of the Wizard Saints – the ones who weren't likely to make a fuss over turning civilian ships into a target for dark mages. In the past, we've had them travel undercover on board mule ships as extra security."

"Add to that list whoever is orchestrating this hijacking," Erza added darkly.

"It seems that way. That explains why they haven't issued any demands – this is what they're really after. Fortunately, they don't appear to have found it yet, which gives us an advantage."

Happy inquired, "So what do we do? Break through the seal and take it for ourselves before the enemy gets here?"

"That might be easier said than done." Erza frowned as she studied the shimmering silver of the seal. "This won't be easy to break. It's tough… and harmless in this form, but if attacked, it may well retaliate with lethal force."

"I can open it," Jellal overrode her. "It's a standard Council master seal; all ten members of the Council have personal codes we can use to neutralize it. And if I knew what was inside, that's exactly what I'd do – take it with me for safekeeping, or get one of you two to carry it to safety. But as it is, I don't know if it's even portable, let alone if it can be handled safely. It's probably safest where it is."

"Then I suppose we should concentrate on defeating the hijackers, for the time being."

"I think so. We'll head up to the bridge and find the villain responsible for all this."

"No," Natsu interrupted. There was a sudden sharp coldness to his voice, enough to make Jellal stare up at him in surprise. "The villains responsible for this are the Council. If a single one of the passengers has been harmed by the hijackers, that's on the Council's hands."

"Don't look at me," Jellal retorted. "They've been doing this since long before I joined them."

"No, but you knew the Council did this, and you made no attempt to stop it. That's just as bad." A sudden thought occurred to him, and he pressed, "Does Gramps know about this?"

"Makarov? No, he was top of the list of people not to tell, don't you worry."

Natsu's intense glare did not lessen. "But _you_ -"

"Natsu." It was Erza who intervened before their team's uneasy truce could break down into open hostility. "I understand how you feel, but now isn't the time to start throwing blame around. We have to hurry and defeat the hijackers."

"…Fine. But once this is over, I will make sure you and your colleagues are held responsible for every single person who gets hurt because of this."

Jellal stared at him for a long moment. Then he turned away, putting his hands in his pockets. "Fine by me," he said coolly. "I will simply put an end to this before anyone gets hurt. I will stop the hijackers, protect the hostages, and keep whatever it is that the Council is hiding safe. And what's more, I'll do it all on my own."

With that, he began to stride away from the engines, leaving Natsu and Erza in astonished silence. "Feel free to come along and watch," Jellal called over his shoulder. "You never know, you might learn something about how a proper mage operates."

Natsu was left spluttering in the air. "But- you- Happy! Let's go! We're not falling behind!"

With Happy's usual cry of, "Aye, sir!" the two of them were shooting off in hot pursuit of the Wizard Saint.

Only Erza lingered beside the engines. As she watched the small team of Fairy Tail mages race off to defeat the bad guys, under the command of a grumpy and reluctant Wizard Saint, she couldn't help but think of another team: a group of children trying to escape from hell, under the guidance of a courageous and inspiring boy. It was a memory triggered so suddenly and strongly that there was no room for anything else in her mind.

That he could stand there and say so casually, confidently, and with utter sincerity, that he was going to save everyone…

That despite how much she had grown, and how much had come between her and her past, she could still feel the same admiration that she had felt back then…

There was a smile on her face as she shook herself and ran after the sound of receding footsteps.

* * *

 _ **A/N:** Okay, so straight on to the next (and penultimate) mini-arc. This one is going to be a very Jellal-centric storyline. Well, the entire story is unapologetically very Jellal-centric, but this is about me getting him to where I want him to be before the big finale. And it takes place on an airship. Jellal demanded the airship. No, I don't know why either, but I'm kinda happy with the way this storyline came out, so we'll see._

 _Thanks to everyone who's still following this story, and to everyone who has reviewed recently, especially all you guests who I can't reply to in person. (In terms of suggestions, everything that happens in this story is pretty much locked in until the end now, so I can't accommodate any suggestions unless they happen to fall very close to what I already have planned - sorry!). Thank you as always for taking the time to read my story, and I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Tune in next week as everything kicks off on board the airship_ … _~CS_


	20. In Darkness

_**A/N:** So there's been some sort of issue with email alerts over the last fortnight(?) - I have no idea if anyone has been getting update notifications from this story, but I'm still updating it weekly. If you're not expecting an airship, you've probably missed a chapter! ~CS_

* * *

 **Kidnapping Erza**

By CrimsonStarbird

* * *

 **Chapter Twenty: In Darkness**

Jellal, Natsu, Happy and Erza met with little resistance as they headed towards the bridge of the airship. All the enemies they encountered were of the same ragtag bunch they had met below: mages with no uniform, guild mark, or any other sign that they were an organized criminal gang, and none of them strong enough to pose a serious threat to their team.

After they had climbed a few floors, Jellal gave voice to his growing unease. "I don't like this. How did so many mages of this level get on board the ship? I can't believe they all have flying-type magic. And none of these people could possibly have found out that the Council was using this ship to transport something dangerous. It doesn't sit right."

The others murmured their agreement. Their swift and easy progress reassured none of them.

Before them lay a grand set of stairs, leading to the upper deck. They were close now – close enough that Jellal could detect a great magical presence at the edge of his senses, just waiting for them. It was unpleasant; sinister; patient. "Can you feel that?" he asked, and they nodded.

"That's got to be their leader," Erza observed. "But… there's something familiar about that magic."

"Yeah, I thought so too," Natsu agreed. His eyes were closed and his head tilted upwards, trying to use his superhuman sense of smell to pin down their enemy's presence. With a shake of his head, he added, "I've gotta get closer."

Jellal was frowning. "Now that you mention it, I think I've felt this power before too. Though I can't place it…" It certainly didn't belong to someone from the guild, or Erza would have recognized it straight away, and besides, he was familiar with all the mages there powerful enough to have such a distinctive presence. Nor could they be from the Tower, if Natsu had met them before. Someone who worked for the Council, then? But Fairy Tail hardly had any official dealings with the Council or their mages…

"Doesn't matter who it is." Natsu's voice cut impatiently through his thoughts. "We've still gotta take them down."

Rather than stopping him this time, Jellal and Erza followed close behind as Natsu and Happy soared up the flight of stairs. They burst through a set of doors – and came to a sudden halt.

They were outside. Fresh air blew against their faces and brushed back their hair. The lavish rooms and narrow corridors were gone; instead, they found themselves in a wide open space at the top of the airship, like the deck of a ship. A bare glossy floor stretched out around them, ringed by safety-conscious railings, against which was stacked an array of folded deck chairs. This was the very front of the ship; ahead of them, the great pointed prow stretched out as if to pierce through the clouds. A few metres above them, the enormous helium-filled hull seemed to block out the entire sky, unfathomably large this close up.

There was no one here.

"We're too high up," Erza observed. "This is the top deck. The bridge is directly below us."

"No," Jellal told her quietly. "This is exactly where we're supposed to be."

He took a few steps forward, glancing left and right, dissatisfied. This was where the power they sensed was coming from, and yet he could not pinpoint its source. It was all around them, a corruption carried on the wind; a breeze clinging a little too long to his skin. Shuddering, he fought against the urge to brush himself down. He could feel his own magic growling like an unnerved beast in his chest. The desire to let it blaze until it had burnt away all trace of that unsettling power was held back only by his caution.

Natsu said the words they were all thinking: "It's a trap. It has to be."

"Siegrain." Erza suddenly seized Jellal's arm. "I think you should leave the airship right now. Let Natsu and I deal with this."

He frowned at her and did not move. "Why?"

"Because I think the trap is for you."

"What makes you say that?"

"The person behind the hijacking knew that the Chairman was going to send you to deal with them. If the Council wanted to keep the secret of the mule ship safe, they _had_ to send you, the Wizard Saint who is also on the Council – and who is also conveniently in Magnolia, where the airship _just happens_ to have been diverted to. But there's one major problem with that, you see? In making you go, the Chairman was sending to the hijackers one of the ten people in the world who can open the seal on the secret compartment. I think the hijackers are confident that they can force you to unlock it for them."

A slow clap resounded from behind them. "Oh, bravo, Miss Erza," drawled a new voice. "You're just a little too slow, I'm afraid."

They spun around. Standing in the doorway was a man the Fairy Tail mages had thought they would never meet again. With his military-style gold-trimmed blue coat, high boots, and red-brown cape slung across one shoulder, he could have been the perfectly ordinary captain of the airship – except they all knew this man, and he was not the sort who would ever settle for such a mundane job. His dark hair was pulled up into a high ponytail; his thin moustache bordered a sinister, arrogant smile. His eyes glittered with mirth, for he was perhaps one of the few men on the continent who could stare down two of Fairy Tail's strongest mages and a Wizard Saint without fear.

"You!" Erza breathed. "You're Phantom Lord's… Master Jose!"

"Not any more, thanks to your dear Makarov." There was a sing-song tone to Jose's voice, brimming with confidence. The horrible sense of the magic around them grew stronger, like cobwebs that the wind could not blow away.

That was enough of an introduction for Natsu. "JOSE!" he roared. It was an order, and Happy understood it perfectly. He and Natsu shot towards their opponent.

But they hadn't moved more than a foot before they came to a sudden stop. Jose had not reacted; rather, it was Jellal's arm pressing against Natsu's chest, holding him back. "Don't," Jellal warned him, quietly. "He once held the same rank as I do, remember?"

"So?" demanded an outraged Natsu. "I could beat you!"

"No, Natsu." This was Erza, just as quiet as Jellal. "You couldn't. And you didn't… you didn't fight him the first time round. You don't know what he's capable of."

Jose's smirk broadened. "You'd do well to listen to her, Salamander. Of course, it won't make a difference in the end. You will fall to me either way. Makarov isn't coming to save you this time."

Natsu growled, but Jellal did not let him past. Erza's hand went surreptitiously to the hilt of her sword. Its familiar shape was the only thing that could reassure her as memories of the last time she had faced Jose in battle rose unbidden in her mind. She had been weak then, suffering from the aftereffects of repelling a Jupiter blast and facing down one of the Element 4 in battle, but she had not so much as touched this man while they fought. He had shrugged off every one of her attacks with little effort; he had toyed with her and mocked her and she had been utterly helpless before him. If Makarov had not arrived when he had, she would certainly have died.

And Jose was right. They were on board an airship, miles away from the guildhall, and no one in the world below had any idea that Jose was the one behind the hijacking. Makarov was not coming to save them.

But they had their own Wizard Saint with them this time, didn't they?

Out of the corner of her eye, Erza stole a glance at Jellal. His gaze was fixed, unblinking, upon their opponent; she thought she could sense that great power within him, ready to burst into life at any moment. And yet… something was wrong. Jellal was not acting arrogantly, like he did whenever anyone from the guild challenged him. Nor was he showing the same overwhelming thrill he had displayed when fighting Laxus.

Oh, there was not a single sign of fear in his expression, but the lack of his usual attitude was conspicuous. Jellal was not confident about this fight. And for some reason, seeing him without the confidence that she had grown so accustomed to was more alarming to her than her opponent's threats.

"So this is what you've been up to, is it?" Jellal asked. His voice sounded as casual as ever, perhaps even a little bored; Erza wondered if Jose had noticed anything unusual. "I did wonder. A life of petty crime – that's quite a way to fall for a former Wizard Saint and Guild Master."

"Oh, I don't care about any of this." Jose waved his hand dismissively at the airship's bulk towering over them. "It's all just a means to an end. There's only one thing I really want."

"And what's that?"

"I am going to wipe every last trace of Makarov's guild off the face of the earth."

Jellal laughed. "That's so pathetic," he said, still with that same mocking lightness. "You're out for revenge? Give it up. You knew what the consequences would be when you declared war on Fairy Tail. Go settle down in some quiet little village somewhere and be grateful that you managed to avoid a prison sentence."

The foul magic surrounding them intensified with every word, pressing down like a thick blanket until they could no longer feel the wind of their motion. "Settle down? A mage like _me?_ I should have everything! My guild, my title, my authority – I lost it all because of Makarov! I won't rest until he's lost everything too!"

"LET GO OF ME!"

It wasn't Jellal who had given this startled shout, but Natsu. Erza glanced over in surprise to see that Jellal was gripping his shoulder tightly – the only thing stopping the Dragon Slayer from rushing Jose.

"No," Jellal snapped at him. "You and Erza stay back. I'll deal with this."

"Like hell I'm just gonna sit here while he threatens my guild-"

"You can't beat him, Natsu. At least let me fight without having to worry about you as well-"

"He's Fairy Tail's enemy!" Natsu howled. "Not yours!"

"That makes him my enemy too!" Jellal shot back. "You've spent four weeks trying to convince me that I'm a part of this guild; don't go back on that now just because it's become inconvenient for you!"

That was enough to stun even Natsu into silence – a silence broken only when Jose gave a sinister chuckle. "I wasn't expecting to encounter Fairy Tail mages on the ship with you, I'll admit," he pondered. "I thought you always worked alone. But this really is a stroke of luck. I can take out Fairy Tail's famous Titania and Salamander right here, and present their bodies as a gift to Makarov."

With an explosion of flames, Natsu broke out of Jellal's grip and he and Happy streaked towards Jose. The former Guild Master calmly raised his hand, his twisted smile only growing. "I see the Salamander is volunteering to go first."

"Natsu, I said _no!_ " Jellal roared. Jose was fast, but so was he. Even as incredible power spiked in the miasma surrounding them, there was a pure golden aura dancing at his fingertips, becoming a snakelike bolt of light which whipped through the air and struck Happy from behind. The winged cat cried out and lost his grip on Natsu before being flung straight into the stack of deck chairs. Natsu hit the ground with a furious shout – and the ghostly black arrow that might have killed either him or Happy if it had hit passed harmlessly through the air between them and disappeared into the sky.

Natsu was immediately back on his feet, but he didn't manage more than a single step on his own before collapsing again. It was difficult to tell whether it was Jose or Jellal he was cursing over the sound of him retching.

Far from being put out, however, Jose's smile only broadened as his full attention turned back to Jellal. "Oh? And there I thought the Council was supposed to look after the guild mages, not strike them down from behind."

"I told you," Jellal stated coldly. " _I_ will be your opponent."

All of a sudden the sense of foul magic pressing in upon them was gone. Jellal released the restraints on his power and it took form as pure light; an aura of liquid starlight so bright that the darkness could not stand to exist within it. It encircled him and Erza and Natsu's prone form: proud and fierce and yet so warm, a soft breeze banishing the cloying sense of Jose's power.

Erza's heart jolted. Everything she had felt when this magic had fused with hers during the fight in the guildhall came back in a rush, only it was stronger this time; a reassurance she had been expecting rather than a shock she had not. It was so familiar it hurt, that light's fearless warmth. After all, it was a physical manifestation of the courage that had led her through the darkest of times – the courage that would stay with her always, for it had given her the strength to keep fighting then and thereafter.

And she realized how foolish she had been. How could she possibly have thought that he couldn't beat Jose? That he was scared? That he would _lose?_ She might not have stood a chance against Jose the first time round, but she was stronger now, and she wasn't alone either. In that moment, with nostalgic light washing over her and that heavenly breeze stirring her hair, she knew that if they fought together, there was no one they couldn't beat.

If Jose noticed the magic rolling in waves off his chosen opponent – if he could even sense it through the thick mire of his own power – then he gave no sign of dismay. If anything, the malice, the glee, the sheer confidence in his cruel eyes only increased.

And Erza thought: _this has happened before._

Since Jose was here, didn't it stand to reason that the assorted mages they had encountered on the lower levels of the airship were the remnants of his guild; the mages who had not wanted to or had not been able to find employment elsewhere when Phantom Lord had been disbanded? So wasn't there a strong chance that some of Jose's most powerful henchmen were also here, lying in wait?

Jose was gloating to Jellal, "Are you sure that's wise? You and I, unleashing our true power upon each other right here? There are civilians on board this ship, you know. What do you think will happen to them, when your recklessness tears their mid-air prison apart?"

Tension was etched into Jellal's stance, yet he did not move to attack. Even though he had yet to shape the power he was projecting into a destructive form, the effect on their surroundings was potent: the railings and deck groaned, as if under a great weight; black fractures spread across the floor like flowing cobwebs from beneath his feet. If either of them attacked at full power, and the other retaliated, not even the most advanced airship money could buy would be able to withstand the pressure.

But there was another problem with Jellal projecting out his magic so strongly.

 _This has happened before._

To drive back Jose's defiling magic, Jellal had been forced to sacrifice his own vision. The reassuring presence of his own power was so strong that it drowned out everything else in the near vicinity – both Jose's magic, and that of the man presently teleporting in behind Jellal.

Erza was already moving. She caught a glimpse of an enormous man in billowing, murky green robes; she recalled, in that moment, how much her Guild Master had suffered at the hands of this enemy, and she would not let that happen to Jellal. The last thing she saw was the startled expression on his face – and then she was pushing him out of the way as Aria's palms descended towards her, and she was sealed inside his airspace.

She had heard it said that the forced draining of a mage's magic was more painful the more magic power they possessed, and if that were the case, then she could not begin to imagine how Makarov must have felt. She was no stranger to pain, but this – this was like nothing she had ever felt before. Everything she was – her heart, her soul, her life – was being wrenched from her body, and there was nothing she could do to stop it. She was helpless, like utterly helpless; alone within herself and suffering and broken like she had been in that hell they called the Tower of Heaven.

She could see nothing but white; her brain was no longer capable of processing anything other than the agony flooding through her. She couldn't even scream. There was nothing she could do but break: cry and beg and pray that it would end by any means possible; by death.

Into that world someone was screaming, a voice so beside itself with madness that it was strong enough to reach her even there. "DON'T YOU HURT HER DON'T YOU DARE-!"

And just like that, it ended.

Her first wild thought was that she must be unconscious, but as colours and sense began to return to her surroundings, it became increasingly clear that she was not. She was curled up in a ball on the ship's hard deck. She tried to raise her head and couldn't at first, as though she had been buried alive beneath a mountain of soil. The world swung back and forth in her vision, trying to work out which way was up. Yet there was one thing she could see clearly – Aria lay in a crumpled heap further along the deck, his robes still smoking from the force of the magic that had struck him.

Jellal's hand was resting on Erza's shoulder, a familiar, comforting presence, and she drew strength from it. She could sense his magic through that touch, louder than ever in the absence of her own. He was okay. All the pain she felt was worth it, because he was going to be okay.

Yet he did not move to help her up. After a moment spent lying there in confusion, she mustered what remained of her energy and, with great effort, managed to half-raise herself into a sitting position and turn to face him.

Jellal wasn't looking at her. His gaze was fixed on a point somewhere over her shoulder, his eyes wide and unfocussed. He was trembling – violently, uncontrollably.

And it was with growing dread that she looked down to see the spear of black energy protruding from his chest.

"Interfering Fairy trash," Jose drawled. "But, I suppose having you turn your back on me in the middle of battle is almost as good as draining your magic."

Erza couldn't speak. She could only stare in horror as Jellal's body convulsed with the effort of breathing and a line of blood ran down his chin.

She hadn't been able to protect him after all.

The dark spear broke apart. The shards of living shadow reverted to their original forms, cloaked spectres with glowing eyes and skeletal hands. They fluttered around the two of them for a moment, half-laughing and half-wailing their graveside lament, before returning to where Jose stood and vanishing at his fingertips. Without the support, Jellal pitched forwards, but he hadn't fallen far when Jose's hand clamped down on his shoulder, forcing him to remain upright.

"Now, that's no good," the ex-Wizard Saint purred. "I need you conscious, you know."

"No…" Erza tried to shout, but it came out as no more than that one whispered word, and even that took so much effort that it set the world spinning again. Even worse, she could hear the unmistakable sound of Aria getting back to his feet behind her. They had lost completely.

It was to him that Jose spoke next. "Councillor Siegrain and I are going downstairs to have a little chat. Take the Salamander and his cat down to the dining hall with the other prisoners, and then go and guard the portal. I don't know how these Fairies got on board, but we can't take any chances. I don't want any more of their friends showing up until I'm ready to face Makarov."

"What about Titania?" Aria asked, nudging her with his foot.

"I don't want to risk her interfering again. Throw her overboard."

Erza barely noticed as the large man picked her up in one hand – Jose was dragging Jellal away and that was all she cared about. The sight drew forth all the strength she had left. Twisting, she fought against Aria's grip, trying to Requip a blade into her hand-

But nothing came. She had no magic left. She was weak, just like she had been in the Tower of Heaven: a powerless child, pathetic and scared, unable to save anyone.

And she was about to lose him again.

"JELLAL!" she screamed without thinking as she dived towards him.

"Erza!" he shouted, reaching for her hand.

But Jose was hauling him away and Aria was pulling her back and there was a whole world between them again, and she was falling through the endless sky.

* * *

 _Oh._

 _I couldn't reach him._

That single thought wrapped its cold hands around her heart as she fell. There was a darkness creeping across the sky from the edges of her vision, a premature nightfall, leeching the colour out of that cloudless blue. No matter how far she fell, it never seemed to get any further away, only darker. She supposed it was so unreachable to begin with that nothing she did, whether flying or falling, made the slightest bit of difference.

 _I'm going to die._

She knew that, but somehow, she couldn't bring herself to care. It just didn't matter any more. It was because he had been trying to help her that he hadn't seen Jose's attack coming. It was because she had tried and failed to protect him that he was now suffering so much.

She was the one who had fought Jose before. She was the one familiar with his tricks. She was the one who knew the depths to which he would sink in order to win. If only she had been quicker on the uptake…

Perhaps, if she had never come to help him at all, he wouldn't have needed to worry about her and Natsu getting in the way; he could have fought Jose freely from the moment he appeared and won without ever leaving himself open to any traps.

Or perhaps, if she had only been stronger…

 _I haven't changed at all._

 _I thought that by acknowledging my weaknesses, I could become stronger. I thought that by asking for help, by admitting my flaws, and by being honest with myself and with those around me, I would miraculously become invincible. But that's not how it works. I still can't protect the people who are important to me… and in trying and failing to do so, I've only made things worse._

She was no different to how she had been back then.

She remembered being imprisoned in that room at the top of the Tower of Heaven, when Jellal had fought his way through hordes of enemies to save her. And when they had taken him in her place, she had tried to save him in return… and she had failed.

She had been too late.

He had given up everything for her, and she had let him down.

But worse than that, worse than the knowledge that she had not arrived in time to save him from the darkness he had met there, was the understanding that she had given up. She hadn't tried to discover what was driving her kind and gentle friend to act so deranged. She hadn't tried to drag him out of the darkness; she had not fought for him, like he had fought for her. She had run away. It wasn't just Sho, Millianna, Simon and Wally she had abandoned eight years ago. It was Jellal too. She had been so scared, she hadn't even tried to save him.

 _I thought I was stronger than that now. I thought I had changed for the better. I thought that this time…_

She raised a hand towards the sky, that small circle of blue surrounded by creeping shadows; unconsciousness encroaching upon her exhausted mind.

 _But he's up there somewhere… and I'm down here._

Maybe, if she could Requip one of her winged armours, she might be able to glide safely back down to the ground… but she already knew it was impossible. She was still conscious because Aria had been struck down before the drain was complete, but it hadn't happened quickly enough; there was no magic power left in her body. There was nothing she could do but wait to die. Perhaps, if she was lucky, she would be unconscious by the time she hit the ground.

But she knew she wasn't going to be lucky. She could already sense something beneath her. There was a gentle force pressing back against her – softer than the futile scream of air resistance, like the buoyancy of water – and everything seemed to slow down.

Then: impact.

Only, it wasn't the ground she hit. At first, Erza had no idea what had just happened. She was still moving at high speed, only this time the motion was horizontal rather than vertical. She couldn't see any of the trees or hills or buildings that surely ought to be decorating the skyscape if she had landed on the ground. Even more oddly, she got the distinct impression that she was lying in someone's arms.

"Oi, watch where you're falling," came a familiar voice. "We're trying to fly here."

"…Gray?" she murmured in disbelief.

"Nice of you to drop in, Erza." She could practically hear the grin in his words. "Do you think you can stand?"

Somehow, she felt as though she could. Just hearing a reassuring voice had banished the clinging darkness from her vision. Gray set her down, and sure enough, she was able to support her own weight, while his arm still around her helped hold her steady against the rushing wind. That was when she decided to take a look around.

As she had correctly worked out, she was not on the ground. As she wouldn't have guessed in a million years, however, she and Gray were standing on the upper wing of a wooden biplane. A thick layer of ice secured his feet to the wing.

"Sorry it took us so long to get here," Gray was saying. "It took a while for us to convince the Rune Knights to lend us their plane."

Maybe she had passed out from Aria's attack, and this was all some sort of surreal dream.

Gray laughed at her obvious confusion. "Nope, this is really happening. Our whole team's here. Lucy's in charge of offence, and Juvia's on defence," he explained, pointing out the two girls. They were crouching between the upper and lower wings, clinging tightly to the support bars, one at each side of the plane. Lucy was gripping Sagittarius's key in her hand.

"How on earth is this plane staying in the air?" Erza asked, her disbelief not lessened in the slightest by Gray's logical account of the illogical situation.

Gray gestured over his shoulder, still grinning, to where Levy and Gajeel were crouched one in front of the other on the tail. "Gajeel's reinforcing the wood with iron bars to hold it together." Now that he had pointed it out, Erza could see that the Dragon Slayer's eyes were closed in concentration, his metallic fingertips pressed to the wood; she could sense an unfamiliar magic permeating the entire vehicle and guessed that it was his. "Levy's got 'LIFT' words under the wings, helping to combat the extra weight. That's what she used to slow you down enough for me to catch you, by the way."

"I'm grateful," Erza said softly, and the letter mage gave her a small wave in response.

Gray continued, "Oh, and Mira's flying this thing, so it's not going to run out of magic power any time soon."

Erza hadn't recognized the pilot at first, since the mage-turned-barmaid was wearing a leather helmet, flight goggles, and a billowing white scarf – as always, she had embraced the task with an enthusiasm to outdo anyone's. Erza could sense her magic, though: that immense strength she knew so well, no longer able to shine on the battlefield but not fully vanquished either, ready to support her guild in ways not even she could have anticipated. There were few people Erza knew who could have supplied enough magical energy to the biplane's engine to get it off the ground with so many passengers on board, and for Mira to be able to fly it so competently on top of that… she really did have remarkable friends.

"And that's what we've been up to," Gray finished, as Mira inclined the nose of the plane slightly, heading towards the black dot in the sapphire blue that was the _Grand Hurricane_. "Now, I think you'd better explain how you came to be falling out of the sky, and why it is that I can hardly sense any magic power from you."

Erza shuddered as she recalled everything that the unexpected appearance of her friends had temporarily pushed from her mind. Her hesitation must have been evident, because Levy shouted to reassure her over the rushing wind. "It doesn't matter how bad things are up there, Erza. We're going to join the fight anyway. So if there's anything you can tell us about what we're up against, it would be a great help."

"I know," Erza conceded. So she told them everything: who their enemies were, the Council's artefact hidden down in the engine room, and the conditions of their fellow Fairy Tail mages on board the ship. The others listened in solemn silence. Their plane continued to close in on the airship.

"Well, then," Gray said finally. "It's a good job we're here, isn't it?"

But Erza just shook her head. "No. You can't fight Jose. He's far too powerful."

"So what? We've never backed down before, just because we've come across a tough opponent. It's not what Fairy Tail does. You know that, Erza."

"Yes, but…" As she glanced up towards the growing silhouette of the _Grand Hurricane,_ and the unreachable sky beyond it, she saw once again the startled look on Jellal's face as the spear drove through his body. "I don't want to see anyone else get hurt because of me…"

"Oh, shush," Mira told her firmly. "If we want to fight then that's what we're going to do, and you have no right to tell us we can't. It's not your fault if we get hurt, because we're not doing what you say anyway."

Levy agreed, "We didn't come all the way out here with you and Natsu because you asked us to. In fact, I distinctly recall you telling us _not_ to come. We're here because we thought that Siegrain might be in trouble, and we wanted to help him. That hasn't changed. In fact, it's got worse: Siegrain's _definitely_ in trouble, Natsu and Happy are prisoners, and our entire guild might now be in danger. So we have even more reason to go up there and fight."

"No one can be strong all the time, Erza," Lucy smiled. "Not you; not even Siegrain. That's what we're here for."

"Whether it's support you need in battle-" Gray began.

"Or advice when it comes to romance," Mira interjected merrily, causing Erza to go bright red.

"Or someone to lure Jose away while you go in and save the man you like," Juvia added, only heightening Erza's embarrassment.

Gray gave a pointed cough. "Or just extra hands to help you rescue the hostages and take control of the airship, since you can't do all that on your own; not while facing off against the hijackers at the same time-"

"Then we're here," Lucy finished. "And we're here whether you ask us to be or not."

All of them turned to look at where Gajeel was crouched on the biplane's tail, as if demanding to know why he wasn't joining in with the motivational speeches. "Don't look at me," he grumbled. "I only tagged along because it sounded more fun than another day of painting parade floats…"

He shifted uncomfortably under their glares. "Hey, I don't do this kind of thing! No one in my old guild would have volunteered to take on an ex-Wizard Saint to rescue their colleagues, alright? I'm not used to how crazy you Fairies are yet!"

"That's a point," Erza said, frowning. "Gajeel, Juvia – are you sure about this? You may end up having to fight against your old friends."

Firmly, Juvia rebuffed, "If they're willing to hold innocent people hostage to get their way, they're no friends of Juvia's."

Gajeel nodded. "It's like you said," he grunted to Erza, "Jose doesn't play fair. Sounds like you had the advantage over Siegrain in that fight because you guessed what Jose was about to pull. Well, I know more of his tricks than anyone. No one will be able to hold him off as well as I can."

"You'd really do that?" Levy asked. "Fight against your old Guild Master for us?"

The Iron Dragon Slayer's next words were directed towards the biplane's tail. "After everything I did to your guild, it's the least I can do to make it up to you, isn't it?"

"…Thank you, everyone." Erza closed her eyes and smiled. "I am fortunate indeed to have friends like you."

"Fortune has nothing to do with it," Mira corrected her briskly. "It may have been a coincidence that we met in this guild, but we're your friends because we like you. If you really don't want us to come and help you out next time, you've got to start being horrible to us."

Cheerfully, Levy pointed out, "But even that might not work. Siegrain tried really hard to be mean to us all when he first joined the guild, and that hasn't stopped the seven of us here plus Natsu and Happy from rushing to his rescue, has it? Nah, you're stuck with us whether you like it or not."

Erza didn't think she could speak. Fortunately, she was saved from having to come up with some way of putting her gratitude into words as they were almost at the airship, and that meant there were more pressing matters. Mira called out to them all, "Right, it doesn't look like there's anywhere to park, so I'll fly up alongside the top deck and you're all going to have to jump."

Erza privately thought that the lack of a runway on board the airship wasn't something that should have come as a surprise to the rescue team, but then again, this was Fairy Tail, and thinking ahead wasn't their strong suit. As they soared towards the top deck, however, an entirely different problem presented itself in the form of shouts of alarm and even bolts of magic shooting towards them from their destination.

"We've been spotted!" Mira reported.

"That's not exactly surprising either…" Lucy sighed, indicating the somewhat noticeable biplane and its multitude of passengers.

They were close enough to see at least five figures dashing around the deck, and although none of them looked like Jose or Aria, Erza had a hunch they still weren't there to roll out the welcome wagon. Even as she watched, one of them summoned into existence a bird made entirely out of flames, which soared up towards their plane – only for a water pulse from Juvia to douse it instantly.

"Lucy, please return fire!" the water mage called across the wing.

Nodding, Lucy summoned Sagittarius, who materialized above her on the upper wing. The plane began to tip under the extra weight before suddenly righting itself, as Levy adjusted the strength of the buoyant words under the wings to compensate. The archer released a rapid hail of arrows towards the top deck. Not wanting to be left out, Gray created something that looked suspiciously like a Gatling gun out of ice and added his own assault to the barrage, mowing down the enemy snipers.

They soared past the top deck and crossed in front of the airship so that Mira could bring them round for a second fly-by. "Mira, take us in closer this time!" Gray shouted. "We'll jump before they can call for reinforcements!"

"Got it!"

As they approached again, flying as slowly as possible while remaining airborne, those on the left-hand side of the plane prepared to jump. Lucy was trying very hard not to look down. Yet there was still a gap of several metres between them and the deck when their pilot suddenly veered away again. The plane pitched alarmingly; if Gray hadn't let his gun disappear and seized Erza instead, she'd have slipped straight off.

"Mira!" he yelled. "What are you-?"

A beam of dark energy blasted through the sky, missing their tail by inches. Erza turned to look as their little plane streaked away, confirming with her eyes what that magic had already told her: standing in the middle of the deck, his aura of malice evident even from this distance, was Jose himself. There was no warning before his attacks, and no limit to his range. A second surge of crackling energy appeared before them, and only Mira's quick reflexes prevented the plane from being obliterated. She pulled the nose up in the nick of time and they rose above it – but not without cost.

"The propeller's been hit!" Mira called. There was a mechanical splutter and the plane began to fall. " _Gray!_ "

"I'm on it!" Placing his fist against his palm, Gray crafted replacements for the two broken blades, and the plane levelled out again. He grimaced under the effort of keeping the ice intact under the forces of rotation. "I can't keep this up for long. We've got to land soon."

As they approached again, Sagittarius and Juvia kept up their bombardment of attacks, forcing Jose to go on the defensive. The former Wizard Saint still had plenty of tricks up his sleeve, however. The breeze shimmered and became a swarm of black shades. No matter how many were blasted down, there were always more; they surged in from all directions like a thick black smog, reaching, clutching, clinging, and dragging the plane down.

Mira ducked and weaved the best she could, but there were shades wherever she turned. Skeletal hands tugged and tore at the plane: one of them snapped off half the tail fin before Gajeel managed to kick it away; another made off with a huge chunk of wing which Gray hastily replaced before they could spiral out of control again. The shades were blocking their vision, driving them further away from their goal.

"Oh, no you don't," Mira snarled, a little of her old ferocity returning to her voice. That was the only warning her passengers got before she tipped the plane into a near-vertical dive. Their terrified screams notwithstanding, it was a perfect move; she easily broke out of the storm of shades. As soon as she had located the _Grand Hurricane_ once more, she resumed their ascent towards it – to find herself looking straight into another devastating blast of dark energy.

From nowhere, there was suddenly an enormous blue-green magic circle in front of them. The beam struck it head-on and was deflected back up into the sky.

"Erza!" Gray exclaimed, looking at her in shock as she lowered the shield of her Adamantine Armour. "You shouldn't be- you can't- I thought you were completely out of magic…" he finished lamely.

"Almost," she said, with an exhausted smile. The elaborate plate armour dissolved into light as she returned to leaning heavily on Gray's shoulder, breathing hard. "But I feel so much stronger, just knowing you're all here with me."

"Don't overdo it," he warned her.

"I don't think approaching the deck is an option any more," Mira cut in, business-like, not the least bit shaken by their narrow escape.

"Then how are we going to get on board?" Gray shot back.

"I've got a plan. Hold on tight."

"Scarier words were never spoken…" Gray muttered, and Erza gave him a sympathetic smile.

There wasn't much chance to say anything else, as their enthusiastic pilot immediately pulled the plane into a near-vertical ascent. Jose's attacks stopped as they left his line of sight, shooting up the side of the helium-filled hull. The moment they were above the airship, Mira turned a great loop-the-loop, laughing out loud as her passengers clung on for dear life.

Rather than returning to the great steel monster of a gondola, however, Mira manoeuvred them into position directly above and behind the airship. Guessing what their pilot had in mind, Erza couldn't stop that familiar sinking feeling from growing in the pit of her stomach. Her suspicions were only confirmed when Mira said, as offhandedly as ever, "Gray, I don't think we have any brakes, so I'm going to need your help to stop the plane."

"Sure, but what are you- _oh._ "

That despair-filled word pretty much summed up how they were all feeling as they began descending far too quickly. It was Mira's first time as a pilot, flying a prototype biplane that no one outside the military even knew existed… and she was going to try and land it on top of a moving airship.

They all had their eyes screwed shut, so the first they knew about their landing was the jolting sensation of the wheels striking taut canvas and bouncing off again. The plane listed and Mira jerked it viciously back the other way, until none of them knew quite which direction the ground was in any more. A brief eternity later, they struck the airship once more, and this time they stayed down; even more miraculously, the canvas didn't tear. They half-rolled and half-slid along the top of the tapered cylinder, skidding and bumping every time the wheels crossed a bar of the metal framework beneath the fabric.

"Gray!" Mira shouted, as the end of their improvised landing strip drew closer.

But it was Levy who reacted first. Rather than panicking, she simply sketched the word 'DRAG' in the air and handed it to Gajeel – who was still sat behind her – with a cheerful, "Hold this."

He reached up automatically and seized the giant letter G. "What the- wah!" The word suddenly appeared to accelerate backwards, and if he hadn't thrown his free arm around the plane's tail in the nick of time, he'd have been pulled straight off. His magic flooded into his body, converting as much of his skin to iron as possible in order to combat the forces attempting to pull him apart as Levy's word slowed the plane down.

"Oh, and hold on tight," the letter mage advised him, almost as an afterthought.

It was working. As their headlong rush slowed, and the plane began to veer sideways around the curve of the cylinder, it took another prompt from Mira before Gray froze the wheels to the airship's body, bringing them to a sharp halt.

Mira gave a long, satisfied sigh. She pushed her flight goggles up onto her helmet, revealing eyes sparkling with life. "See? Piece of cake."

No one moved a muscle. No one dared.

Brightly, she continued, "I think it'll take Jose a while to work out where we've gone, so this is our chance to rescue Siegrain and Natsu."

The reminder of their goal was enough to prompt Erza to jump down from the top wing and land lightly on the canvas. Pointing to a set of white rungs bolted to the side of the airship, she seconded, "Let's do what we can before we're discovered. This will be our way in."

Shaking herself, Levy slid from the plane's tail. "Good plan. We'll climb down, go in from the side, and take the bridge while Jose is still on the top deck. What do you think?"

She directed this question to the other passengers – only to find that still none of them had moved. They didn't look like they _could_. Lucy's hand was locked so tightly around the metal support that it seemed as though they would need a crowbar to prise her away. Juvia looked nauseous. Lying on his front on the plane's tail, Gajeel gave a wounded groan.

"No one else?" Levy asked, with a laugh.

Mira frowned. "Is Natsu's condition contagious, or something?"

"I think we might have been better off against Jose," Erza remarked, with a faint smile. "You're as terrifying as ever, She-Devil. Magic or no, you've still managed to take out half our team before we've even reached the enemies."

Her one-time rival smiled back at her. "I'll knock these guys back into shape, Erza. Isn't there somewhere you need to be?"

"Thanks, Mira." And then, like a whisper on the wind, "Thank you… everyone."

* * *

The world was full of darkness.

It was everywhere: above him, around him, within him; black tar in his veins; ghostly hands stroking his heart – a feeling so wrong, yet a feeling he could not fight. His wrists were bound behind the pillar at his back, the only real thing in the entire world. Everything else was darkness.

Even if he could not see them, he could hear them: the _things_ in the shadows, if they weren't the shadows themselves; shifting, stirring, waking. The odd footstep. A cackle of laughter, silenced before he could glean any indication of its direction. The agonizing screech of a metal-tipped staff against stone – both a curse and a blessing, for a magical weapon being used to taunt was not one being used to torture. Not yet.

'The Room', the children had called it; called it with fear and reverence, for even the handful who had returned from it alive could remember little of what transpired there. Those who could still speak did so only of darkness and of pain; of a torment that ended only when the slavers released them to return to work.

It was his first time. They didn't like to send children in too young; the survival rate was too low for it to make a worthwhile punishment. He had been strong, at first. Stronger than most. They had bound him to the pillar and struck him over and over and over and he had not uttered a sound. The fact that he was suffering meant that Erza was not, and that one thought was a golden shield of light around his heart.

Yes, he was strong, and his tormentors loved it. A child who would not break was one against whom they did not have to hold back. The pain grew and grew and with it came the darkness. Shadows raked their claws across his vision, hiding his torturers from sight; accentuating the agony of every strike he could not see coming. Each dreadful moment became an eternity in the darkness, the cruelty that smothered all light.

The darkness had a voice, and it whispered the words that were in his heart.

 _Hate…_

Bolts of magic pierced through him again and again and no one was coming to save him. He was going to die here, alone and abandoned, a prisoner and a slave, helpless, pathetic-

"No!" he screamed. "I'm not weak any more! I am the Master now! This is my Tower-!"

The world around him shattered. There were lights breaking through the darkness – the rhythmic winking lights of an airship control panel, unlike anything that existed in the arcane depths of the Tower of Heaven. He realized too late that he was screaming out loud and bit down on his bottom lip so forcefully he tasted blood.

A man stood before him, his eyebrows raised mockingly, a twisted smile giving his face a devilish touch. "Fascinating," Jose remarked. "I've never seen anyone react so strongly to this magic before. Could it be that the good, law-abiding councillor is hiding some great dark secret?"

Jellal gave a soft snarl as the floor swam in and out of focus before him. His breathing was heavy and ragged; his skin glistened with sweat. He could still feel Jose's foul power flooding through his body, bringing lethargy and decay and devouring every spark of resistance his own magic tried to muster.

What magic Jose was using on him he did not know, and he was in no position to begin trying to work it out; not when every single breath was agony and the world around him could not decide whether it was a small dark room at the heart of the _Grand Hurricane,_ or a large dark room at the top of the Tower of Heaven. He did not know how he had got here – he remembered only flashes between being struck by Jose's attack and now – and it only heightened his sense of disorientation.

Jose seized his hair and wrenched his head upwards, almost causing him to black out. Another trickle of blood ran down his chin, and he could not wipe it away with bound hands. Because it was all he could do, he stared at Jose with all the venom he had left, but this only made his captor smile.

"Good," Jose purred. "I can't have you abandoning your sanity just yet. Not until you've given me the code to open the Council's little safe."

"This obviously won't work," Jellal hissed back. "I'm not going to tell you, no matter what you do to me."

"We'll see about that. I am disappointed, though. I was hoping you weren't going to go in for that defiant-until-the-end nonsense. I know you have no love for the Council, whatever you tell your foolish colleagues."

"True, I don't," Jellal mused, trying to sound calm and failing. "But then again, they've never tried to torture me either, so I'm reasonably comfortable siding with them on this one."

"You're not exactly helping yourself here." Jose released his grip and stepped back. Twin spectres swirled around his body. Every time they glanced towards Jellal, their red eyes gleamed with hunger. "Tell me the code, and I'll end this right now. My quarrel isn't with you."

Despite the pain it caused him, Jellal couldn't help giving a weak, choking laugh. "You know what's so ironic about this? If you'd just come to me a few weeks ago and told me you wanted to destroy Fairy Tail, I'd have given you all the help you needed, no questions asked. I'd have done anything to see Makarov and his stupid guild destroyed. But no… you chose to pick a fight with me here and now instead. You claim you don't have a quarrel with me, but from the moment you decided to involve me in this stupid scheme of yours, I've had one with you…"

"Be as arrogant as you like. I'll break you soon enough. We still have many hours before the airship lands."

Jellal might have said something in response – some gloating taunt – but as far as Jose was concerned, there was no value in giving his prisoner a reprieve until he was willing to talk. The black shades met at his raised palm, fusing and stretching into a spear of darkness, which he sent shooting towards his prisoner with a casual flick of his hand. The moment it drove through Jellal's skin, all the malicious magic inside his body came alive in an explosion of pain; a thousand needles bursting outwards from within him. Convulsing, he gave a silent scream.

The world around him wavered. There was no longer a mocking ex-Wizard Saint in front of him, but a towering shape of darkness, a rune-covered monster, and it was laughing. Before it, he was a terrified child once again – but he was also a councillor and a guild mage and there was a part of his mind shouting back at it, _No! You're not real! YOU'RE NOT REAL!_

Jose's laughter cut through the haze and he knew he must have screamed the words out loud. "What I wouldn't give to be able to see what you're seeing right now," Jose marvelled. "Something you did to someone else, come back to haunt you? Or perhaps… something someone did to you?"

Jellal wouldn't have replied even if he could have done. His captor was clearly aware of this, as he increased the pressure without waiting for a response; hitting his body and mind over and over again.

The brief flash of clarity was gone. He no longer knew if he was a man reliving memories of the past, or a child perceiving visions of the future. All he knew was that he was alone, in this terrible burning hell, and the darkness was closing in around him.

 _No!_ he screamed in his head. _I am the master of the darkness!_

But he wasn't. If he had power, he wouldn't be in this situation. He was just a child. A pathetic and powerless child.

 _I am the master… I am…_

It hurt so much. He would do anything to make it stop. Anything, to not be in this place.

 _But… I'm…_

Anything, for the power to escape.

 _I'm…_

Anything, to not be here alone.

"Please don't leave me."

Quiet words, soft words; they carried like a scream in the silence.

"You're coming back, aren't you, Erza?" that lost little voice beseeched the empty air. "You wouldn't leave me here… would you?"

Some distant part of him registered howls of pain as magic lanced through him again, but it wasn't enough to drown out those trembling words. "I came all the way here for you… I'm suffering so you don't have to… so you're coming to get me too, aren't you? Where are you? Erza!"

"You really are fond of that girl, aren't you?" Jose's amused tones cut through the fog of pain and memory. "Well, well, well. I didn't think you had it in you to care about another human being."

The airship suddenly snapped back into place. Jose was right in front of him, his burning palms resting on his prisoner's cheeks, damp with sweat and tears. Jellal was shaking violently; without that unwanted support, he would not have had the strength to look his captor in the eye.

Jose pondered, "She took the hit for you, you know. I wasn't expecting that. At first I thought it was mere loyalty towards the Council, but… perhaps there is more to it than that. It's a shame, really. If I'd known how useful she would have been against you as a hostage, I'd have kept her alive."

Noticing his prisoner's sudden stillness, he continued, "Oh, don't you remember? I had her thrown off the airship. No one can survive a fall from that height without magic, and because of you, all her magic was drained from her before she fell. You can beg all you want; she won't be coming to save you. The only way to end this is to give me the code I need."

Shrieking, thrashing, Jellal hurled himself at his captor, and might have bitten his nose clean off had the bonds around his wrists not pulled taut almost immediately. His body jerked, and there was a wrenching pain in his shoulder – the real pain of flesh and bones and sinew, rather than of magic. A fresh wave of dizziness broke over him; he collapsed in a heap at the foot of the pillar as Jose took several steps back.

"I know you're a smart man." Jose shook his head regretfully. "This stubbornness doesn't suit you. Well, you'll break soon enough. Everyone does."

He raised his hand and the darkness closed in again. That foul and ravenous monster reared its head once more.

There was a knock at the door.

Jose paused, his hand still raised. The door scraped open, and he rounded on it, snapping, "I thought I told you not to disturb me!"

"Begging your pardon, Master Jose," replied the intruder, "But we've got a bit of a situation up on the top deck…"

"Deal with it, then!"

"We've been trying, but…"

With a growl, Jose made up his mind. There had already been too many unexpected arrivals this day. "We'll finish this later," he shot at Jellal, and then he stomped off.

The door slammed shut behind him, leaving Jellal alone, slumped on his knees in that lightless room.

 _She's not coming._

He was a man, bound and beaten, awaiting torture and death in the depths of the airship.

 _She's not coming._

He was a child, alone and afraid, shivering and broken with nothing left to live for, because she wasn't coming back for him.

And in the darkness, there was a voice. He knew it well. It was the voice in his heart, given life by this terrible place. Jose may have gone, but echoes of that pain remained, and in his absence there was nothing to separate delusion from reality.

"You hate him, don't you?" it whispered.

He thought of the man who had lured him here and stripped him of his dignity and forced him into this hell. "Yes," he murmured. "I hate him…"

If the darkness had a face, it would have smiled. "Good. You hate him so much, you'll die before he breaks you. But that's still a problem, Jellal. You're going to die here, and the man you hate will get away unscathed."

"No… She'll come… She will…"

"She didn't come last time," it purred. "You waited and waited and suffered all the while, and the only one there for you was me."

He trembled and said nothing. There were hands upon his skin, inhuman hands, unreal hands, gently stroking his hair and his cheeks, the only comfort in this empty place. "This is what people are like, Jellal. You know they care only about themselves. And yet you believe them anyway… you trust them anyway… you give up everything for them… and when you need them, they are not there. Don't you hate them?"

"I hate them…" he whispered.

"Good. But that's not enough. As things are, you will die and they will all live. Is that what you want?"

"No…" The pain was rising again. It was coming not from around him this time, but from somewhere deep within. Every heartbeat intensified it, and yet his heart was slowing down, eased out of its adrenaline-fuelled pace by that gentle voice. Ghostly hands traced calming patterns over his face and neck. They were cold, and the coldness was spreading across his skin, sealing the darkness within and dampening the pain; turning it into power. "I will not be… the only one to die."

"Good."

And it said nothing more, but it did not go. It was there in the corner of his eye, always; the footsteps behind him in the night; lurking, observing, waiting.

He knew what to do. Now, while he was alone; now that his captors had disappeared, foolish indeed to turn their backs just because he appeared to be defeated. They thought he was weak. Harmless. Beaten. They did not understand the power of his hatred.

"I was abandoned," he murmured. Red light played over his skin. The foul energy that had infiltrated his body could not stop it, oh no; so strong was his hatred that he drew that power into himself and made it his own. "They left me here. They're not coming back." The air around him throbbed with energy: magic and fury and utter devastation. " _She's_ not coming back."

And he laughed. Maniacal. Free and wild and holding nothing back, because it was all he had left. There was no hope for him any more, so he would remove all hope from the little part of the world he could still influence. Before they could kill him, he would take his own life, and obliterate the entire airship in the process. Everyone on board would fall.

They would all die; die in despair and in hatred.

Just like him.

The pressure binding his wrists suddenly vanished. It was so unexpected that he pitched forwards on his knees, only for something to catch and steady him. It was warm – a warmth that shouldn't exist in this place of darkness, because it could only come from another human being and he was supposed to be forever alone.

He stared up at her and didn't understand.

"I'm sorry it took me so long to reach you," she said. "There was a plane… Jose… and don't even get me started on Mira's flying…"

He just kept staring at her, as if he hadn't heard a word she had said. "But you can't be here," he whispered. "You can't possibly be here."

Erza smiled. "I'm here," she said softly, and she pulled him into a tight embrace.

For a long time, he did not react. He continued staring over her shoulder, not knowing how or why she had come for him this time, or what it meant that she was here. He was no longer shaking. After the terrible pain of magic, her arms were so gentle. The hateful power – both Jose's and his own – had vanished, because she was here now.

And despite everything – despite the fear and the suffering and the anguish; despite his defeat, his powerlessness, and the utter despair of their situation – he didn't feel upset.

No – if anything, he felt at peace.

He wondered if this was what he would have felt on that day eight years ago, if she had arrived just a little sooner. If he had been able to take her hand, rather than turning to the darkness which had been there for him when he was alone. If she had reached out to him before he had lost all hope that anyone was coming; before he had given up on her and accepted the power and the promise that would let him stand strong on his own.

If only she had reached him a little sooner.

If only he had waited for her a little longer.

Then, would he have felt this happiness?

Only then did he move, at last returning her embrace. "Please," he murmured, so quiet she could barely hear him. "Stay with me."

"I will," she promised.

* * *

 _ **A/N:** It has always been about Erza. Yes, to Jellal, Zeref is a real dark god whom he intends to resurrect... but there is also an extent to which Zeref's presence is nothing more than Erza's absence. Zeref is what happened to him when he gave up hope that Erza was coming to save him. The two cannot exist together. Resurrecting him and sacrificing her are the exact same thing. For Zeref to come into his world, Erza has to leave it. Though he does not realize it himself, that is why Jellal cannot consider any sacrifice other than her. She is, and has always been, at the centre of everything he does._

 _She's here now. And while she lives, there's hope._

 _Anyway, that's quite enough from me this week. This average chapter length is getting a bit out of hand. Thank you as always for reading! ~CS_


	21. Team Effort

**Kidnapping Erza**

By CrimsonStarbird

* * *

 **Chapter Twenty-One: Team Effort**

How long Jellal remained in that place he did not know. It might have been an hour that passed for him, or only a few minutes. He would have been content to stay there with Erza forever.

He should have hated it. He knew that. She had found him when he was at his most vulnerable; beaten and broken and about to give up – no, he had already given up. He had never wanted anyone to see him so weak.

But the thing was, _it didn't matter._ Pride and strength and reputation – none of that meant anything right now. What mattered was that she was alive. What mattered was that she had come back for him. What mattered was that she didn't care how helpless he was; she was just _there_ , holding him in her arms and asking for nothing in return, bringing him slowly back from that nightmare.

No, it didn't matter at all, if it was her. If he could stay here with her, things would be alright-

 _BING-BONG._

Both of them started at the unexpected sound of the airship's public address system. They exchanged embarrassed glances, and Erza was in the process of helping Jellal to his feet when the subsequent announcement stopped him in his tracks.

 _"Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. This is your First Officer speaking."_

Jellal blinked. "Is that… Mira?"

"Sounds like it," Erza agreed.

"But… that barmaid can't possibly fly a ship like this!"

Erza raised her eyebrows. " _That barmaid,_ " she echoed crisply, "Just landed a prototype biplane carrying six additional passengers on top of a moving airship. I don't think there's anything she can't do."

 _"As you've probably noticed,"_ Mira continued, her voice ringing throughout the entire ship. _"There appears to be an infestation of dark mages on board today's flight. I would like to assure all passengers that we have our best exterminators looking at the problem, and we fully expect it to be resolved shortly. In unrelated news, I anticipate that we will soon be flying through a, uh, completely normal elemental storm, so if you happen to see any water, ice, iron, Celestial Spirits, or, uh, words flying about the ship, there is no need to panic; this is, as I say, completely normal for Fiore airspace at this time of year. Once again, let me assure you that everything is completely under control, and I will keep you up to date as the situation progresses."_

Silence fell as the last reverberations of the somewhat surreal announcement faded away. Jellal looked at Erza, still very much bemused. "Water, ice, iron, Spirits, words," he pondered. "Juvia, Gray, Gajeel, Lucy, Levy? Why are they here? Is this your doing, Erza?"

"It has nothing to do with me," she told him calmly. "When Natsu and I mentioned that we were heading up to the airship on a rescue mission, they volunteered to come with us of their own free will. I told them not to, but they wouldn't listen to me. They all care about you, you know."

As the familiar annoyance began creeping back into his expression, she placed her hand on his shoulder. "You can't always be strong by yourself. And, the thing is – you don't have to be. We're your team. We're here for you. Use us."

He stared at her for a long moment. Then, without saying a word in response, he strode over to the control panel beside the door and held down the intercom button for the bridge. "Bridge, this is, uh, Prisoner Bay #1. Do you read me?"

"Loud and clear, Captain," came Mira's immediate response. "Glad to hear you're alive and well."

"Are the others there with you?"

"Gajeel and Juvia are up on the top deck, re-negotiating the terms of their release with their ex-Guild Master," she chuckled. "I've got Gray, Lucy and Levy here with me. We're awaiting your instructions, Captain. This is your mission. Tell us where you want us."

Jellal glanced at Erza, who gave him a nod of encouragement. "Alright," he said. "Then listen closely. Gray, I want you to head to the dining hall on the passenger floor. That's where the hostages are being kept. Rescue Natsu and Happy, and take out the enemies threatening the passengers."

"Got it," the ice mage agreed. "I can't wait to see Natsu's face when I swoop in and save him."

"Good. Lucy?"

"Yes?" she responded, a little apprehensively.

"Somewhere on board this airship is a magic portal Jose set up. It's how they managed to smuggle so many dark mages onto the ship. If it works how I think it does, your Spirits should be able to help you find it. Secure it, and cut off their escape route. Be careful, though. It'll be well-defended."

"I'll do my best," she said.

"I'll come over to back you up once I've saved Natsu's skin yet again," Gray offered.

Levy piped up, "What about me?"

Jellal thought for a moment. "Come and meet me up on the top deck. I want to speak to you in person."

"Sure," she replied, intrigued.

"And, Mira?" Jellal finished. "Set a course for Magnolia. As soon as you're within radio range, try to get in touch with the guild, and let them know what's going on up here. We're going to need some help."

If any of them were surprised that the aloof councillor had sincerely admitted that he needed help, they took it in their stride. "Sure thing, Captain," Mira said, and the intercom cut off in a crackle of static.

Silence fell once again upon the dark little room, but it wasn't an oppressive silence, not any more. Jellal could tell that Erza was happy – and maybe even proud – that he had accepted the help of their team, but she didn't say a thing. Instead, she just asked, "What about us?"

He turned his gaze upwards, as if he could see through the ceiling to the deck far above. "Juvia and Gajeel are fighting Jose, huh?"

"Do you think they can win? They're both strong, and they'll know all the secrets of Jose's magic."

"That works both ways," Jellal pointed out, remembering his own fight with Sho, Wally and Millianna only a few days ago. "And even with both of them working together, they're not stronger than Jose."

"Are _you_ stronger than Jose?"

His scowl gave the answer away. "You can't take the Wizard Saint rankings at face value," he grumbled. "They always make the new guy start from the bottom." Erza laughed, and he gave a rueful smile. "At full strength, on solid ground, and with no civilians in sight – then maybe you and I together would have been able to do it. But here and now? Not a hope."

"I guessed as much. When he first appeared on the top deck, you were scared, weren't you? You were thinking that this was an opponent you couldn't beat."

"You could tell, huh?" Jellal let out a sigh. Somehow, when she said it out loud like that, it sounded less like a shameful secret and more like a problem they could tackle together. "Well, I suppose there isn't any point in pretending. I don't know how I can win against him, especially not now. How did Makarov beat him?"

"Fairy Law."

"I see. That explains how he was able to do it without any casualties," he mused. "Unfortunately, that's not exactly an option for me."

"Abyss Break would do enough damage to stop him, wouldn't it?"

"Certainly, it would. There isn't a mage alive who can take a solid hit from that and keep fighting. However, quite apart from the fact that I'd never be able to hit him with it and it's useless magic that I really only learnt to show off with… there's another major problem with that plan."

"You're not strong enough to use it right now."

"That's an understatement. I feel like I'll pass out if I so much as stand up too quickly."

"I'm the same. I can Requip once more, maybe twice. Then I'm out."

Jellal nodded slowly. He was hurt, and it would only hamper him further against an opponent he couldn't even beat at full strength, but apart from the magical energy that had been consumed trying to fight off Jose's power, his magic burned only a little dimmer than usual when he called it to his palm. Erza, though… physically, she was fine, so her hand-to-hand combat style would work to her advantage, but she was alarmingly low on magic. Going into battle against a mage like Jose without any power to reinforce her body with was all but suicide. "Take it easy. If you get hit in that state…"

"I know," she said, quietly.

"We're in no fit state to fight, either of us."

"But we have to go."

He nodded once. Just a few minutes ago, the idea of going back into battle against an opponent who had so thoroughly humiliated him the first time round would have been unthinkable. Now, it was the idea of backing down which was preposterous. Victory wasn't any more likely, but he owed it to those who had come to save him.

She held out her hand to him. "We'll go together."

"Yes," he said, and he took her hand. "We'll go together."

* * *

Traitors, Jose had called them, and perhaps they were, but if loyalty meant taking innocent people hostage as revenge against the enemies to whom they had already lost fairly, and who had been gracious to them in defeat, then a traitor Juvia would gladly become.

When she and Gajeel had gone to face their old Master up on the top deck, she had tried to convince him to abandon this course of action. Gajeel had not bothered to say anything. He knew it was hopeless, and so, in her heart, did she. It was merely a token gesture towards the man who had taken her in when she had had nowhere else to go; a man who had been kind, once, before his rivalry with Makarov had become an obsession.

There hadn't been much of a chance for words after that – not on her part, anyway, for staying one step ahead of a wrathful ex-Wizard Saint was taking all of her concentration. Jose had no shortage of words for her, however; barbed words flung like spears between the surges of lethal energy which thundered across the deck. The benevolence that had led him to welcome in the lonely rain woman and the outcast son of a dragon, and the wisdom with which he had governed such a large guild so successfully for so long, were lost to him in his madness.

Juvia had no doubts that she was fighting for the right side. Even when they had been enemies, Gray had been kind to her, and Lucy and the others had accepted her into their guild with open arms. Fairy Tail would never condone violence against civilians. And she knew Gajeel understood this too, even though he would never say so out loud; that was why they were fighting side by side without flinching against a far stronger opponent.

They did have some advantages against Jose, and those advantages were keeping them in the running when a Fairy Tail mage might already have fallen. If Juvia hadn't already known all Jose's attacks would affect her water body the same as a flesh and blood one – the result of some extensive, though completely voluntary, testing they had done early on in her training – then she might already have taken a fatal blow. As it was, she hadn't been hit yet, employing pressurized jets of water to launch herself around the airship's top deck too quickly for even Jose's magic to touch her.

Skidding to a halt against the railing, Juvia whirled around and sent a crescent of water shooting towards her opponent. A casual flick of his hand deflected it down to strike the deck. Gajeel, his right arm transformed into a blade, tried to use the opportunity to swipe at Jose from behind, but the ex-Wizard Saint had seen the coordinated attack coming, and he turned aside with a grace belied by his outlandish military appearance. His foot smashed down on the flat of Gajeel's blade with enough power to force the Dragon Slayer to the floor.

Mustering all her strength, Juvia sent a sweeping deluge of water towards Jose, knowing only that she had to get him away from the prone Gajeel before he could deliver the coup de grâce. A tide of spectres formed a barrier between the wave and Jose, draining its power at once. Not a drop of water touched him.

It had done its job, however. Gajeel took the chance to direct his Iron Dragon's Roar sideways, striking Jose at close range while the recoil simultaneously pushed him back to safety. But even as he flipped himself the right way up and dug his heels in – carving parallel lines of destruction through the wooden decking before he finally came to a halt – the shards of iron and dust his magic had thrown up scattered to reveal that Jose was still completely unharmed.

And that summarized the battle up to this point quite nicely. Although neither side had managed to land a direct hit on the other, Juvia and Gajeel were dashing around the open deck with all guns blazing, whereas Jose was approaching the battle with the ease of a man out for a country stroll. Any hopes they may have harboured of winning this fight had been dashed almost immediately. Now, they were merely buying time for the others to rescue the prisoners and regroup.

How long would that take? Juvia felt as though the battle had been dragging on for hours. Her muscles were screaming, as much a symptom of consuming so much magic in such a short space of time as it was of her evasion-focussed battle strategy. Yet the part of her mind that was accustomed to fighting difficult battles knew it had been a couple of minutes at most since they and their former Master had opened hostilities.

As if they sensed her growing gloom, the horde of shades which had been circling the combatants suddenly closed in, forming a shrinking ring around her and Gajeel. She retaliated with an enormous tidal wave; those that weren't wiped from existence by the power of her magic were flung overboard. It was another large expenditure of energy, but she knew that being touched by a single one of Jose's spectres would be far more costly. The next thing she knew, an enormous burst of violet energy was ploughing through the remnants of her wave – from her blind spot – and heading straight for her.

To the untrained eye, she and Gajeel made an unlikely team, but they hadn't just been two of the strongest mages in the same guild – they were also friends, of a sort. They had always looked out for each other, and that was no different now; it was why Juvia had privately asked Makarov to consider inviting Gajeel to join Fairy Tail. They had trained together, and they knew how each other fought.

So, although Jose's attack was fast, Gajeel was faster. He slammed into Juvia, knocking her aside so that he could take the strike against his scale-reinforced arm.

The blow hardly fazed the Dragon Slayer. He drove that same arm into the ground, forcing it to morph into an iron pole – which became his pivot as he twisted, seized Juvia in his free hand, and used all his momentum to hurl her towards Jose. If he was deflecting all their magic, she would simply strike him with her fist.

The ex-Guild Master dodged, impossibly quickly, and caught Juvia's wrist in a hand shimmering with unhallowed energy. And that might have been the end of the fight – if not for the iron spear which burst straight through Juvia's chest to impale Jose. Not even he could dodge an attack he hadn't seen coming. As he staggered backwards, his expression apoplectic, Gajeel pulled his arm back, and Juvia's water body returned to normal, completely unharmed. They might have given each other a high-five, if not for the new fury radiating out from their opponent at the fact that they had managed to harm him.

Gajeel and Juvia hurled themselves to the side in the nick of time. Something shadowy and enormous caught the water mage a glancing blow; she was sent sprawling to the deck. Jose's second strike hit Gajeel head-on: an enormous blast of pure energy flung the Dragon Slayer straight overboard. Before Juvia could so much as shout his name, Jose was right above her, about to put an end to his former ally once and for all.

Juvia blinked and there was suddenly a figure stood between her and Jose: Erza. The warrior-mage cut upwards with the blade in her hands; if Jose hadn't jerked backwards, sending his lethal attack wide, he'd have lost his left arm. Two more rapid slashes forced Jose away from Juvia before he had even identified his new opponent.

Juvia scrambled to her feet at the first available opportunity, not wanting to be any more of a liability to her adoptive guild. Erza took the chance to back away from Jose, coming to stand at Juvia's side with her sword raised defensively. Out of the corner of her eye, Juvia caught sight of a blaze of golden light: Jellal and Gajeel landed back on the deck, the former having gone to rescue the latter before he had fallen too far.

"We'll take it from here," Jellal said.

The ex-Phantom mages would likely both have voiced objections to that if Jose hadn't got there first. His displeasure at the reappearance of his former prisoner took form as a bolt of deep violet energy, throbbing with compressed power.

Unperturbed, Jellal raised his hand and swatted the bolt aside, just as casually as Jose had deflected Juvia's attacks earlier. Only those who knew what to look for could have sensed the incredibly strong magic that had appeared, for the briefest of moments, intertwined with his fingers. The diverted blast punched a hole in the railing and sent several deckchairs overboard. Neither the current nor the former Wizard Saint turned to look at the damage. All their attention was fixed upon each other, as Jose tried to assess how much of that display of power from his beaten enemy was mere bravado, and Jellal did his best to look like the answer wasn't 'almost all'.

The door leading back into the ship burst open and four mages sprinted onto the deck – only to freeze just as suddenly as they appeared. "Master Jose!" one of them exclaimed.

"Stay out of this," their leader snapped. After one look at their opponents, his followers were eager to obey. Jose was stood with his back to the airship's main body; the Fairy Tail mages had nothing behind them but the ship's triumphant prow and the open sky. The newcomers fanned out behind their leader, forming a semicircle between the combatants and the way back inside the ship.

Erza took a step closer to Jellal, and he could sense Juvia and Gajeel closing in from behind, improvising a battle formation. "I hope you're not considering telling us the same thing," Erza whispered to him.

"I wouldn't dream of it. Just, be careful. One hit while you're in that state will finish you, and Jose knows that."

"I could say the same to you," she retorted.

His eyes narrowed slightly, but he said nothing; he knew it was only a slight exaggeration. The time he had spent imprisoned with Jose had drained him of more vitality than a prolonged fight. He was vulnerable, and his opponent was as strong and confident as ever.

He was still debating how best to attack without pushing his injured body too hard when Jose made the first move. Black shades swarmed through the sky – the ex-Wizard Saint was showing off his limitless magic – and they flickered and flashed at the edges of their vision; teasing them without ever swooping low enough to strike. They would become dangerous the moment the Fairy Tail allies took their eyes off them.

"Ignore them," Juvia said immediately.

"Yeah, we'll handle them," Gajeel backed her up. "They won't touch you."

The sharp rebuttal died on Jellal's lips, and he nodded once. He could appreciate the sentiment – even though he had a sneaking suspicion that Juvia and Gajeel would fare better against Jose than he would right now.

Then he was gone, shooting across the deck in a blaze of celestial light. With his eyes screwed shut against the surge of dizziness, he missed the startled expression on Jose's face, but he knew he had managed to catch him by surprise; he sensed it in the overhasty blast of energy that skated harmlessly around the golden aura shielding him.

The ex-Wizard Saint dodged – straight into Erza's path. Jellal's charge was merely a feint. While Jose had been focussed on him, Erza had followed behind unseen. She couldn't risk a full armour Requip, but a single weapon was much easier, and why choose an ordinary sword when she could summon the enormous spiked mace of her Purgatory Armour for the same cost? Jose's eyes widened in horrified surprise, but that was all he had time for before the huge mace smashed into him, doubling the damage Gajeel had already done. He was catapulted back through the doors leading into the ship.

Jellal was free to gently arc back round and land by Erza's side. "Nice," he offered. She smiled at him as her mace vanished, but it was a worried smile.

The mages surrounding them had been shocked into silence by the blow struck against their leader, but over the rush of the wind they could all hear slow, angry footsteps as Jose returned to the battlefield. His azure coat was ripped and speckled with blood; dust and splinters nestled in his hair. The wound was nothing to him, but the same could not be said for the damage to his pride. They had touched him, but he had not touched them. For the first time since they had met on board the airship, Jellal felt a fragment of his confidence return. Perhaps victory here wasn't impossible.

But as Jose stepped out of the shadows, he was smiling, shark-like, with magic swirling in the air around him. "I almost can't believe it," he purred to Jellal. "Not only do you return to me rather than fleeing, putting my goal once again within my reach, but you also bring me your greatest weakness on a silver platter."

"My greatest – _what?_ "

Perhaps the only person who hadn't immediately understood what Jose was getting at was Jellal himself. Juvia and Gajeel were already moving, dashing across in a desperate yet unhesitating attempt to protect their former enemy, but they were too late. Jose's shades condensed to form bonds of living darkness, which wrapped around Erza, dragging her up into the air. Four stray shades twisted together to create another spear, poised above her heart.

"Move, and she dies," Jose said lazily. "That goes for you two as well," he added, raising his eyebrows towards his former guild mages, who had both resumed moving towards the bound Erza. And then, mockingly, to Jellal: "Go on. Try it. You're fast, but not _that_ fast. She'll be dead before you've moved an inch."

Gritting his teeth, Jellal allowed the magic around him to die away.

"Good boy," crowed the ex-Wizard Saint. "I was going to beat you into submission again, I can't imagine it would take long, but I think it'll be faster if I just threaten your dear Titania instead, don't you? If you want me to let her go unharmed, you're going to tell me the code to open the safe."

"Don't you dare tell him!" Erza shouted. Capture had not shaken her resolve in the slightest.

Juvia and Gajeel glanced uncertainly at Jellal. He did not seem to notice them. His gaze was fixed on Jose – no, on a point slightly over Jose's shoulder, through the wreckage of the door and into the darkness beyond, before it flicked back to his opponent.

"Come on," Jose urged him, tightening the bonds around Erza with an easy gesture. "I told you, my fight isn't with you. Give me the code, and you and your precious Titania can both walk away unharmed."

"And I told _you_ ," Jellal retorted, quiet and cold. "You are my enemy; you have been ever since you decided to involve me in your little plot." And then, suddenly, unexpectedly, he laughed. "No, it started before then, didn't it? It was you. You and your obsession with revenge against Fairy Tail. You're the one who sent that cursed amulet to my guildhall all those weeks ago."

At the accusation, Jose's eyes seemed to light up; his glee was all the confirmation that the Fairy Tail mages needed. Jellal continued, "That was why there was nothing anomalous in the Archives' access records – because the amulet was taken by a Wizard Saint who had every right to be there. What did you do, steal it right before the guild war started, in case everything went wrong and you wanted one final shot at taking Makarov down?"

"It wasn't my first choice of approach, I'll admit. Not quite personal enough. But once I had worked out how to activate it, it should have been a foolproof way of capturing the entire guild and putting all of Makarov's precious friends in the palm of my hand. So imagine my surprise when I dropped by later that morning to pick it up, only to find that they were all safe and well – thanks to _you,_ of all people. You turning up in Fairy Tail was the last thing I expected. But although you may have ruined my first plan… your presence there also provided me with an unprecedented opportunity."

"Let me guess. After you discovered that I was no longer watching over the Council Archives, you went straight there and put in a transfer request for whatever it is that's hidden on this ship right now. The request that Ultear was telling me about."

"Bingo. It really was a stroke of luck, you no longer being at the Council. It was a simple matter to construct an application from a fictitious bedridden professor, who desperately wanted to study this particular artefact before he died. You'd have seen through it straight away, but the poor Chairman was so desperate to prove he could take care of everything without you that he went ahead and authorized it. Of course, they'd have discovered the ruse before anyone opened the seal for me at the other end, which simply meant I had to work out how and when it was being transported, and devise a plan to obtain it before the ship touched down. It was simple. I've worked with the mule ship system for years as a Wizard Saint; the Council's schedule was easy enough to predict. Now, all you need to do is unlock the seal for me, and I will finally have the tool I need to complete my revenge."

"He's never going to unlock it!" Erza spat. "We won't give in to you!"

Jose merely smiled.

Quietly, Jellal asked, "What is there on board this ship that you are so desperate to get your hands on?"

"Did the Chairman not tell you?" Jose gloated. "Perhaps he was hoping you would not look inside the safe, and no one would ever have to know how foolish he was to let it out of the Archives. Of course, it is already far too late for that. I thought long and hard about the perfect way to enact revenge upon Makarov – and what better than by using the very weapon he and his guild went to such great lengths to seal away?"

"No…" Erza breathed.

"That's right. It's something you know very well, Miss Erza. Hidden within this ship is the Demon Flute Lullaby, which brings death to all who hear it, no matter how powerful they fancy themselves."

"But we defeated Lullaby! It should no longer work!"

"You defeated its living demon consciousness, that much is true. But the flute itself still works, just as it was designed to by the Black Mage himself. A trivial toy for him, I'm sure, but in our world, it is a weapon of mass destruction which will very soon be singing for your guild."

"You can't give it to him!" Erza shouted down to Jellal. "You can't, no matter what!"

Jellal said nothing. The most observant amongst those on the top deck might have noticed his gaze slide beyond Jose to the damaged door again – might even have seen a flicker of motion in the darkness that was probably just the wreckage resettling. He swallowed, knowing there was no point trying to hide his fear.

"As fun as it is to watch you squirm," Jose added, "I tire of your playing for time when we both know that no one is coming to save you. Now, Mister Councillor. I shall give you five seconds. Tell me the code to open the door, or Titania dies."

"Don't you dare!" Erza practically screamed. "If you tell him, I will never forgive you! _Never!_ "

At last, Jellal spoke. "It isn't worth your life, Erza."

"I would rather die than endanger the rest of my guild!"

"I know you would. So, it's a good job you're not the one calling the shots here. I, you see, couldn't care less about those fools in your guild."

She screamed something else, but he wasn't listening. Focussing intently on Jose, he said, "I'll tell you the code. Let her go."

Jose moved the roiling black spear an inch closer to Erza's heart. "Oh, I don't think so. The code first, if you would be so kind."

Jellal took a deep breath. "Fine. The seal will open with the numbers three-one-eight-two-zero-four. Though, you'd do well to remember the advice given in chapter twenty of Radick's _Introduction to Armantian Runes_ before you unleash it _._ "

"What's that?" Jose sneered. "Some proverb? Are you giving me moral advice, now?"

"I would hurry, if I were you. It would be a terrible shame if someone were to beat you to the engine room."

Jose opened his mouth to retort, but seemed to decide this was advice worth taking. He turned to one of the mages behind him and ordered, "Go down to the engine room and use his code to open the seal. Bring the flute back to me. Immediately."

As the ex-Phantom mage set off at a run, Jose turned triumphantly back to Jellal. "What?" he asked, all false innocence and boundless glee. "Was that you hoping I would immediately release your Titania and dash off to recover the weapon myself? I don't think so."

"You said you'd let her go!" Jellal snarled.

"You and your dear friend Titania can stay right here until I'm holding Lullaby in my hand. _Then_ I'll consider letting her go."

A chorus of laughter rose up from Jose's mages. Erza was refusing to look at Jellal. She was shaking – perhaps she was crying, or perhaps it was with rage. Gajeel and Juvia exchanged glances, not knowing what to do. They had no options left.

Jellal stared down at the ground, pretending not to notice the new animosity he had acquired from his Fairy Tail companions; from Erza. What other people thought of him didn't matter. He had never cared about that, and it was less important now than ever before.

It was out of his hands. All he could do now was wait.

* * *

Elsewhere on the ship, things were going a little better for the Fairy Tail team.

The airship's crew and the passengers were being held hostage in the dining hall. It had once been an extravagant venue, all velvet drapes and glorious chandeliers to match the manor house feel of the rest of the ship's interior, but the tables had since been shoved crudely to the side, making space for the hundred or so prisoners who were sat on the floor. The curtains had been pulled aside so that daylight flooded in through the floor-to-ceiling windows, banishing the opulent atmosphere along with the gloom.

At first, the prisoners had been terrified; forced to kneel in that room with their hands on their heads as menacing dark mages prowled around them. But ever since Mira's announcement over the PA system… well, truth be told, it hadn't exactly filled them with confidence. But it _had_ unnerved their captors, and that fact hadn't been lost on their prisoners. Plus, most of the dark mages had disappeared off to find the intruders, and the two left behind didn't seem all that enthusiastic about enforcing discipline through fear.

In fact, the buffet had been opened on their orders. There was no point in raiding a luxury airship if they weren't going to make the most of its facilities. The dark mages had been hungry, and many of the prisoners had taken the chance to help themselves to the range of finger food still lukewarm beneath the bar heaters. So the hostages were currently sat around eating and chatting – and trying to pretend that they hadn't noticed the ladder of ice that had appeared on the outside of the window, behind their oblivious captors.

As long as the prisoners weren't too loud and didn't make any sudden movements, the dark mages seemed cool with the situation. Besides, they had long since concluded that none of their prisoners were a threat to them. In that, they were correct. The only mage present who was capable of taking them both on in battle was also the only one who was completely helpless. Natsu's motion sickness was constraining him more effectively than any magic.

The two dark mages in question made an odd pair. One was a young woman with bright purple hair, ripped jeans, and a casual t-shirt; the only person who looked more out of place than her within the extravagant dining hall was the man climbing down the window wearing nothing but his underwear. In her hand, she was swinging a blue winged cat back and forth by his tail.

"Whaddya think it is?" she asked, as an extra vigorous swing sent Happy round a full three-sixty degrees. "Think we can eat it?"

"Non, non, non!" protested the other. "You must not eat the prisoners!"

Natsu was not the only one who recognized their second guard. If the green hair and disgusting orange suit were any indication, he was a man known for his elemental mastery, not his fashion sense. Sol was formerly of Phantom Lord's famous Element 4, and Totomaru's absence from the hijacking (he had refused Jose's invitation in favour of the place he had just been offered on a teacher training course), along with Juvia's defection, made him technically the third most powerful dark mage on board, after Jose and Aria. Of course, being a master of earth magic was not much use when you were several thousand feet above the ground, which was why Sol had been relegated to guard duty.

"You sure?" persisted his fellow guard. "I heard flying cats are a delicacy in some parts of the kingdom."

"That's flying fish you're thinking of…"

"Still, maybe if I roasted him… Wonder if the ovens are still working…" She gave the kitchen doors an optimistic glance.

"Please don't eat me…" Happy mumbled, almost as dizzy as Natsu felt.

While this surreal debate was going on, Gray had managed to climb down from the bridge to the dining hall on an external ladder of his own creation, take in the situation, hoist himself along to the kitchens, and smash his way in through the window. The great swinging doors which led from the kitchens to the dining area were designed to contain the noise of a bustling gourmet kitchen; the two dark mages didn't hear a thing. Gray opened the doors a crack, glanced through, and frowned.

He was certain he could take both his enemies in a straight fight, even Sol. He had comfortably beaten the last Element 4 mage he had fought, if one glossed over the fact that Juvia hadn't really put her heart into defeating him. On the other hand, he knew what Sol had done to Elfman during their encounter, and the last thing he wanted right now was to start having visions of Ur and Deliora – especially not when he was fighting in front of Natsu.

So, a strategic victory it would have to be. Quick, clean, and totally unfair.

Gray pushed one of the doors open fully and sealed it in place with an ice doorstop, before ducking back into the kitchen, completely hidden from view. His enemies were paying such little attention that it took a full minute before they spotted the change.

"That wasn't open before," the woman pointed out. "Think there's a rat hiding in the kitchen?"

"Oui," Sol agreed, trying to peer into the darkness beyond the door – a task that would probably have been easier if he stopped swaying from side to side. "Go and investigate."

Still swinging the dazed Happy in her hand, she sauntered towards Gray's hiding place. The moment she was through the doors, he let the ice doorstop disappear into shards of magic. The door swung shut at once. Before the ex-Phantom mage could so much as scream, Gray hit her over the head with an enormous ice hammer. She slumped straight to the floor.

"One down," he said happily. Reaching down, he pulled Happy out of his captor's grasp and sat the little cat on his palm. "Hey, are you alright, Happy?"

"Gray!" Happy exclaimed, practically crying tears of joy. "I'm so dizzy… Now I know exactly how Natsu feels…"

"I don't think anyone can understand what drives that moron. Anyway, can you fly? I need you to cause a distraction so that I can sneak into the dining hall." He turned to the wall beside him and wrenched off a metal grate. "Go through the ventilation shafts and unscrew one of the chandeliers."

Happy was a true Fairy Tail mage at heart; the thought of getting to destroy something so large and expensive on purpose perked him right up. "Aye sir!" he chirruped, and he disappeared into the shaft.

Moments later, the sound of a muffled crash reached Gray's ears, and he burst through the doors. The room he entered was one ablaze with rainbows. The impact hurled shattered glass upwards like a fountain of diamonds, their prismatic beauty ignited by the sun. Hurtling through this world in slow motion, Gray felt like the coolest secret agent on the planet. Then he dived behind the buffet bar, and only when the commotion had died down a little did he dare to poke his head round the side to take stock of the situation.

"Sacré bleu!" Sol exclaimed, valiantly continuing his lifelong attempt to be as over-the-top as possible as he brushed glittering shards from his suit. "Who did that?"

"It was a ghost," one of his prisoners called out helpfully. All of them had pretended not to notice as the little blue cat had soared along the ceiling and unscrewed the chandelier right on top of Sol.

"Yeah, there it goes," another one shouted, pointing in the exact opposite direction to which Happy was currently flying. Sol scoured the ceiling for this mischievous poltergeist, allowing the real perpetrator to glide down unseen to Gray's hiding place.

"What now?" Happy whispered.

"I didn't get as close to him as I wanted," the ice mage frowned. "So, let's turn the heat up a bit."

Literally. Happy watched, mystified, as Gray twisted all the dials on the back of the buffet bar up to maximum. The red glow intensified. Beads of sweat appeared on the ice mage's forehead, but he still he didn't explain himself.

"You're going to burn the shrimp," Happy pointed out offhandedly.

"A necessary sacrifice."

Happy didn't seem to think there were any circumstances under which it was appropriate to sacrifice shrimp, if the way he hastily shovelled the entire contents of the buffet into his mouth was any indication.

"And… ready." Gray clapped his hands together and the entire counter was immediately coated in ice – ice which vaporized under the heat just as rapidly as it had appeared. Clouds of steam billowed out from the buffet bar; a perfect white smokescreen. Happy could only watch in astonishment, his cheeks still bulging with food, as Gray vaulted the bar and disappeared into the steam.

Gray's ice blade smashed against his opponent's chest before Sol had even realized he was under attack. A smaller blade, clutched in the ice mage's other hand, swept towards his neck, and he sprung backwards just in time to avoid decapitation. Desperate, Sol threw up a wall of stone between them, but Gray raised his hands above his head as he leapt forwards, fusing his two blades into a single giant one. One blow from it reduced the barricade to dust.

With the momentum behind him, Gray couldn't lose. His bare foot crunched a couple of Sol's ribs, disrupting the last defensive spell he was trying to invoke, and then the enormous blade was balanced and raised once again. It struck Sol in an explosion of ice, rivalling even that of the chandelier's death throes; the earth mage was hurled backwards. Fortunately for him, rather than hitting the window and falling through to his death, he collided with one of the steel girders and slumped unconscious at its foot.

"Piece of cake," Gray breezed. Now _that_ was what he called a satisfying victory. Even the prisoners were applauding. If only Natsu had been watching that display of sheer skill, it would have been perfect – but Natsu was otherwise preoccupied with lying face-first on the ground and trying not to die, and he looked so pathetic that even Gray was willing to let him off this time.

He strode over to Natsu and dragged him upright. "Oi, flame breath."

"Gray…" Natsu groaned.

"You're so useless. Why did we even let you come on this rescue mission? You're a liability."

Natsu didn't even have the heart to argue with this. "Why is it always transportation…?"

"Oh, get it together," Gray snapped. Happy fluttered over to pick Natsu up again and began to fly him around the room in gentle circles, helping him to regain his bearings. "The battle's far from over. This ship is crawling with the remnants of the Phantom Lord guild, including their Master."

"I know, I saw him." Anger sparked to life in Natsu's eyes at the memory. "We have to stop him here, on board this ship, before he reaches our guild."

"Agreed. And as for you lot…" Gray turned his attention to the prisoners. "It's probably safer if you stay in here until the fighting is over."

A round of relieved nodding followed his words. Happy, however, just pointed his tail in the direction of the unconscious dark mage. "We can't just leave him with them, though. What if he regains consciousness?"

"Well, I'm not carrying him around with me," Natsu said crossly.

"I have an idea." A slow smile crept across Gray's face, and he directed his next question towards the three people wearing chef's hats at the back of the group of prisoners. "Do you have a freezer on board?"

* * *

Lucy skidded to a halt in the empty corridor, staring at the door Loke was pointing to in horror. "I can't go in there!"

"You have to!" the Lion Spirit protested. "That's where the planar ripples I can sense are coming from!"

"But it's the gents!"

Loke just sighed. He indicated the sheet of paper taped to the restroom door. "Look. It's out of order. There won't be any men in there. It's pretty ingenious of the dark mages, really – stick a sign like that on the door and they're guaranteed privacy while they set up their magic portal. It's the last place the guild mages would think of looking, too. Good job you have me here."

"Yes, it _is_ a good job," said Lucy, folding her arms. "You're a man. You can go in, and I'll wait out here."

"There are times when it's perfectly acceptable for a woman to enter a male bathroom. When it's the only way to stop a psychopathic ex-Wizard Saint from murdering your entire guild, for example."

"I suppose…"

"That being said, I would advise against summoning Aquarius from a urinal," Loke added, laughing.

Lucy swallowed. It was fine for Loke to joke about that, but Aquarius still hadn't forgiven her for the jet ski incident – not that that had been in any way Lucy's fault, but trying to convince the Water Spirit of that was just inviting disaster. Grimacing, she pushed the door to the out-of-order restroom open a crack, and when no gender-sensitive sirens went off, she opened it a little further.

At first glance, the toilets seemed deserted. The tiled walls were an uninteresting beige. Six urinals lined one wall; three cubicles stood opposite them. All the cubicle doors were closed. There was nothing that looked remotely like a magical portal.

Loke tapped her on the shoulder. "There," he whispered, pointing to the far cubicle.

"Umm…"

"It's camouflaged, obviously. Trust me on this one. If you push open that cubicle door, it's not a toilet you'll see – it'll be Phantom Lord's current hideout."

Lucy gave a brave nod. If Loke said the toilet was a portal, then the toilet was a portal. It was her job to _stop_ the toilet from being a portal.

She had barely taken more than a step when the door of the middle cubicle swung open.

Contrary to Loke's assurances, that stall was, in fact, occupied. Occupied by a large man wearing great green robes. Who happened to be perusing an old edition of the _Weekly Sorcerer._

Aria saw Lucy at the same time as she saw him. Yet his first reaction wasn't to start screaming that there was a woman in the men's toilets. Nor was it to start screaming that there was a Fairy Tail mage on board the hijacked airship. Instead, his eyes flicked down to the magazine he was reading, then back up to Lucy.

"Is this you?" he asked.

It was then that Lucy realized he was reading the magazine edition for which she and several other members of her guild had supplied a certain cross-dressing photospread.

If she'd aimed her flying kick at Aria's head rather than the magazine, she might have won the fight then and there. As it was, she sent the magazine flying over the side of the stall and into the neighbouring toilet, and probably sprained Aria's wrist in the process. She would have crashed straight into the man himself, but his reactions were as sharp as ever; his unharmed palm went against her chest and a blast of wind launched her backwards.

Unsurprisingly, Lucy had never actually been in a male bathroom before. As such, her largest exposure to them had been through the films she had watched growing up, in the cinema room of her father's mansion. In spy films, assassinations or attempted kidnappings frequently took place in public toilets, and thus, as her impact with the wall shattered a urinal and sent a jet of what she sincerely hoped was clean water up into the air, she felt even more like a secret agent than Gray had done as he had run in slow-motion through an exploding chandelier. She staggered back to her feet, surrounded by white ceramic chunks, watching Aria cautiously as he emerged from the cubicle.

"How sad," the large mage lamented. "I was only going to ask you to autograph the photo. Now it seems we shall have to fight instead."

"Ah," Lucy squeaked.

Staring up at the former Element 4 mage, she distinctly remembered someone saying that Aria usually covered his eyes with cloth in order to keep his devastating true power sealed – and that if anyone wanted a chance of beating him, they had to do it before he opened his eyes. He only removed the bindings when faced with a truly strong opponent, like Erza. Or when he was reading magazines.

Oh dear. There was nothing worse than facing down a villain who was going at full power from the start. Lucy gulped.

Aria raised his left palm and the air around her seemed to explode. Invisible fists pummelled her from every direction at once. She fought to reach her keys, but her opponent gave a casual sweep of his hand and she was flung into the air again. This time, it was a mirror mounted on the far wall that stopped her headlong flight, and she dropped onto the counter below. She managed to avoid a head-first collision with the marble, but at the cost of landing bottom-first into an unpleasantly damp sink. It seemed that the seven years of bad luck for cracking the mirror had already begun.

And things were only going to get worse, because it was about then that Lucy noticed her one ally in this fight had mysteriously disappeared. "Loke!" she howled, struggling to clamber out of the sink. "Where are you?"

The response she received wasn't quite the one she had been hoping for. A loud chortling rose up from the third stall, from which Loke shortly emerged, holding a sopping magazine that he had salvaged from the toilet bowl. "This is brilliant!" he exclaimed, showing Lucy the open page that she had never wanted to see again for as long as she lived. "I can't believe I missed this!"

"Oh please no…"

"It's things like this that make me really regret I'm no longer a full-time member of Fairy Tail," Loke continued, oblivious to Lucy's dismay, as he studied the photograph appreciatively. "Wow, Siegrain makes one hell of a terrifying maid. The pink ribbons in his hair are a nice touch. Though, I can't help wondering how you managed to stop him from trying to murder you all for long enough to take these photos."

Lucy heaved a sigh. "He is actually unconscious in a couple of the ones where he's sat down, if you look closely. For the rest of them, we had to take the photos quickly while Erza was distracting him. She's the only person I know who can make a butler's suit look so princely and authoritative. Still it was quite a challenge."

"Worth it though." The Lion Spirit gave a sage nod. "You look really cute in that tailcoat, Lucy. I can't believe you didn't tell me you had done a photoshoot."

"I was trying _so_ hard to forget about it…"

"How tragic," commented Aria, causing Lucy to jump – she had forgotten her opponent was still there – and fall back into the sink with a splash. "That such a promising modelling career had to come to such an abrupt end."

Lucy's glumness evaporated instantly. "Wait, you thought I might have had a future as a model?"

"…I was referring to the fact that Master Jose threw the fair Titania off the airship to her death."

That blew the last of the fuses in Lucy's head. She jumped to her feet on the marble counter, glaring down at Aria with as much fury as she could muster. "Alright, that does it. Loke! Hurry up and crush him!"

"Sure thing," grinned the Lion Spirit. With only a moment's hesitation over sacrificing his newfound treasure, he hurled the _Weekly Sorcerer_ at Aria, which slapped across his face like a wet fish. He followed it up by sprinting across the room to deliver a powerful punch – which passed straight through empty air. Aria had gone.

And there was only one place he would have been teleporting to. The air around Lucy shimmered and morphed into the green-robed mage, his enormous palms hemming her in. Loke's form flickered and vanished in her vision, and she knew she would feel the magic drain hitting her any second now-

But it didn't come. She blinked and her vision was filled with the polished wood and golden fittings of the inside of a grandfather clock – Horologium had appeared around her just in time. And he disappeared just as quickly, dissolving into particles of light as Aria's attack drained his power instead of hers, and he was forced back to the Celestial Spirit Realm before Lucy could thank him.

Aria was so close behind her that she couldn't resist slamming her elbow into his stomach as she scrambled to safety. Heart hammering, she reached for the keys at her belt. Her enemy could manipulate air, so using projectiles was out – Sagittarius wouldn't be able to help here. But Erza had been able to cut through Aria's airspace, so maybe…

"Taurus!" she commanded, raising his key towards the ceiling. The bull-man seemed rather bemused to find himself materializing in a half-destroyed men's restroom, but before he could say anything, Lucy cut across him. "Don't ask. Seriously."

"It's no use." Aria thrust his palm out towards them again, setting off a chain reaction in the air; an intense shockwave threw Lucy against the wall and sent Taurus into the side of the third stall. Striding over, Aria reached for Lucy – but he had underestimated Taurus's endurance.

With a furious bellow, the Bull Spirit came charging out of the wreckage. Aria raised a thick air wall to repel the assault, but Taurus cut it to shreds with a single sweep of his axe. Next thing anyone knew, he had lowered his head and rammed into the air mage horns-first. Another two urinals shattered under their combined impact; the severed pipes asserted their indignation by spraying the whole room with water. Lucy had long since given up any hope of surviving this battle dry.

For a brief moment, Taurus and Aria grappled on the floor, but the moment the Phantom Lord warrior grasped hold of the Spirit's shoulders, it was over. Taurus's power was drained in an instant. His body wavered, emitting sparks, but he could no longer maintain his physical form, and he too was forced back to his own world.

Lucy gritted her teeth. She reached for her keys again – and her hand grasped empty air. They must have come loose when she had been knocked back. _Where are they?_ Lucy thought frantically. _Aquarius will never forgive me if they've gone down a toilet_ _… there!_

But the surge of hope that had appeared when she spotted them lying safely near Aria's feet was immediately quenched. Her enemy had seen them too. She dived, even knowing that she wasn't going to make it; he snatched them up, and not for the first time that day, she hit the soaking wet tiles face-first.

"A Celestial Spirit mage," Aria remarked. "Completely powerless without these-" Here he jangled the keys tauntingly, before turning around and depositing them into the sink behind him "-but I'm not the kind of man who would let you go just because I've taken away your magic. I'm going to eliminate everyone foolish enough to side with Fairy Tail, starting with you. I will send you to the Zero Airspace, where no life can exist."

Lucy, who had made it back onto her feet, glanced around for a weapon. To have any chance of winning this, she needed to summon Aquarius – and there was more than enough water around here to do it, but her keys were behind Aria. The only tools she had at her disposal were the remnants of several broken urinals and some ruined plumbing. Two broken lengths of pipe, both with hooked ends, poked out temptingly from under a heap of tiles.

"Oh, what the heck," she muttered, taking one pipe in each hand. "I'm soaked through. I'm bruised. I'm alone. I've lost my celestial keys. I'm in the men's restrooms, fighting an opponent that even Natsu struggled against, and I'm dual-wielding broken bits of toilet. Just another day at the office…"

And with that, she launched herself at Aria.

The air mage had not been expecting a non-magical attack from her, and she burst straight through his half-formed airspace. The u-bend of her first pipe hooked around Aria's rosary. With a swift pull, she jerked his head downwards, and followed it up with that time-honoured favourite: a knee to the groin.

Even blinded by pain, Aria's power didn't fail him. One of his flailing hands caught Lucy on the shoulder, a blow with the force of a tempest behind it, and she was sent sprawling across the floor. The pain didn't bother her in the slightest. She had achieved her aim: hooked around the bend of her second pipe was her glittering ring of keys. Triumphantly – or as triumphant as one can be while kneeling on a flooded bathroom floor – she thrust her keys into the bowl of a smashed toilet, crossed her fingers behind her back, and summoned Aquarius.

Aquarius appeared. To say that she did so resentfully would have been to submit a strong contender for the Understatement of the Year Competition. There were no words to describe her fury; Jellal's attitude during his first few days in the guild didn't even come close. If looks could kill, Lucy would be nothing more than a scorch mark on the floor.

Lucy raised a hand to forestall Aquarius's explosion. She was amazed by how confident her own voice sounded. "Look, I _know,_ and you can yell at me all you want for it later. But, the thing is, if you don't help me now, there won't _be_ a later – not for me, or for anyone else in my guild. If you help me beat this man and protect my guild, I'll do anything you want. I'll even renegotiate our contract."

Lucy could have sworn that the subsequent pause lasted a full hour. She felt like pointing out that if Aquarius didn't hurry up and murder her soon, Aria was going to beat her to it.

Then Aquarius said, amazingly, "I'm listening."

"Umm… if you let me know whenever you have a date scheduled, I'll swear not to summon you until you're back. And I'll start carrying around a bottle of filtered spring water so that I can always summon you from somewhere… clean."

"Go on."

"And two weeks' holiday. Starting from tomorrow."

"Four weeks," Aquarius growled. " _And_ I want a copy of that _Weekly Sorcerer_ edition Leo was just telling me about."

"No!" Lucy protested, before she could stop herself. "If you get hold of that… I'll never live it down! You'll bring it up every single time I summon you!"

An evil smirk crossed Aquarius's face. "That's the idea, yes. A fitting recompense for everything you've put me through over the past few weeks."

"Damn it, Loke," Lucy muttered. "You _knew_ this would happen…"

She threw Aria a sideways glance, as if genuinely considering taking her chances with the former Element 4 leader. Unfortunately, he had not been waiting patiently for them to have their conversation. His ultimate airspace, which brought death to anything trapped inside it, was almost complete. Only Erza had been able to survive it – and even that had been by defeating Aria before he had finished it. She swallowed. "Alright, fine. Deal."

"Heh. In that case…"

Aria's deadly airspace was no longer full of air. It was now full of water, and he had no power over a waterspace.

Water spilled out from between his outstretched palms, running down the invisible pressure walls he had created – and then his magic could no longer restrain it. It burst outwards, sweeping across the floor like a miniature tidal wave and ensuring Aria's bulky robes were as thoroughly soaked as Lucy's clothes. Aquarius emptied her urn over his head for good measure.

A grin stole across Lucy's face. Oh, she was certain she was going to regret this later, but for perhaps the first time in her life, she felt completely safe behind Aquarius.

Nor was the Water Spirit anywhere near done. One manicured hand stretched towards the heavens; streams of water flowed upwards from the cisterns and the broken pipes, congealing into a great orb hovering at her fingertips. She sent it flying towards Aria with a flick of her wrist. He was trapped inside – completely cut off from the air he was so good at manipulating; utterly powerless.

A small smile crossed Lucy's face as she noticed the similarity to Juvia's Water Lock technique. She remembered the respect Aquarius had had for Juvia's water mastery when their magic had fused during the jet ski fight, and wondered if, unbeknownst to her, Juvia might have made another friend in Fairy Tail.

 _You're not so bad, are you?_ Lucy thought to herself, as she watched Aquarius with a fondness she had all but forgotten from her childhood. Near-death experiences could do that to a person.

Only when Aria lost consciousness did Aquarius let the water splash back down onto the floor, where the water level was currently sitting at a little above Lucy's ankles. "I can't believe you were having trouble with that guy," the Spirit commented, casually lifting her urn back onto her shoulder. "Don't forget, Lucy. I want that magazine by the end of the day. _Or else._ "

But even Aquarius's ominous parting words couldn't bring down Lucy's buoyant mood. She had actually won! Sure, it was a shame no one had been around to see her victory – though, thinking about it, that was probably a good thing – but as she stood there, brushing her drenched hair out of her eyes with one hand and holding a broken pipe as though it were Excalibur in the other, she truly felt as though the rest of her guild would have been proud.

"Nice one," came a voice from behind her.

Lucy jumped a mile. She spun to face the newcomer, pipe raised to strike – but it was just Loke, leaning up against the far wall. "What are you doing back here?" she asked.

"I came through the gate on my own. Sorry I wasn't much help against Aria. Seriously – you did a great job there."

"Thanks- hang on! You're just saying that to divert attention away from the fact that you told Aquarius about-"

" _Anyway,_ " Loke hastily overrode her, turning purposefully to the door of the far cubicle, which had survived the chaos intact. He pushed it open a crack. Sure enough, it wasn't a toilet on the other side, but a great dark hall far larger than the bathroom supposedly housing it. Shadowy figures moved within the gloom. Loke quietly pushed the door shut again before anyone noticed them, and gave her a meaningful look.

Lucy decided she could be cross with him later. "What should we do?"

"Destroy it, I suppose. Cut off their escape route; prevent reinforcements."

"Or maybe we can go one better. How difficult do you think it would be to reconfigure the portal's destination?"

Loke drummed his fingers on his arm thoughtfully. "Depends. Long-range portals aren't usually that flexible, but if we changed it into a short-range portal – you know, by targeting somewhere on board the ship rather than trying to reach the ground – we might be able to get it to work."

"Alright," Lucy said, with a determined nod. "I have an idea."

* * *

 _ **A/N:** Even I don't understand this story at times. Sometimes it's Jellal's slow and serious progression towards redemption and romance... and sometimes it's Lucy fighting Aria in a bathroom. It's been so long since I've actually been able to write little fights for characters who aren't Jellal that I might have got a bit carried away there, hehe. _

_Anyway, I wanted to say an enormous thank you to all the wonderful people who reviewed last week. Also thanks to you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed today's chapter! ~CS_


	22. Wizard Saint

**Kidnapping Erza**

By CrimsonStarbird

* * *

 **Chapter Twenty-Two: Wizard Saint**

"Hey, Jose," Jellal remarked. "That man you sent to collect Lullaby seems to be taking his time."

Jose's finger twitched.

The tension on the top deck cranked up another notch.

For several long minutes now, a strained silence had held sway over the combatants. Erza was still refusing to look at or speak to Jellal. If not for the way her fists clenched and unclenched every time her living bonds of darkness shifted, he might have questioned whether she was still conscious. Gajeel and Juvia were also avoiding his gaze. They might not have blamed him, as such – surely the only person who genuinely thought he should have sacrificed Erza in that situation was Erza herself – but there was frustration in their every footstep as they paced back and forth behind him.

In fact, the only person who didn't appear tense was Jellal himself. And it wasn't because he was confident. No – he was pretty sure he had never been more afraid in his life. If he made one wrong move, Erza was dead. If he let Jose get his hands on Lullaby, they were _all_ dead, because Jose would want the witnesses out of the picture as soon as possible.

And in a situation like that, what Jellal should have been doing was relying on his own skill and power to overcome it. He should have been fighting alone, in full control of every piece he had on the field.

Instead, he had entrusted everything to a bunch of people who were unpredictable at best – and downright unreliable at worst. His life was in the hands of those Fairy Tail fools and there wasn't a single thing he could do about it. He was completely out of his depth as part of a team, and it terrified him.

But with every minute that went by without the reappearance of Jose's henchman, the balance of power shifted ever so slightly. Cracks began to appear in Jose's calm exterior. After all, he too was the leader of a team, and maybe, just maybe, it was turning out to be even less reliable than Jellal's Fairy Tail posse. Jellal knew _exactly_ how Jose was feeling – and that was why he was currently doing his best to ignore Erza's hostility and Juvia's frustration, and act as though he hadn't a care in the world. It was the only chance they had of turning this around.

And for the time being, it was working.

Jose's patience snapped. "I suppose you think you're so smart," he snarled, breaking out of his cycle of pacing to confront the Wizard Saint. "Trying to buy yourself more time by giving me the wrong code. Perhaps I should start removing limbs from your precious Titania for every incorrect password you tell me…"

Jellal's eyes narrowed slightly. Erza didn't react at all. That wasn't a good sign, but he couldn't worry about her right now. He had to be confident. He had to be strong.

"No, I can't wait any longer," Jose brooded. "And I can't lose any more men to the trap that the seal springs when the code is put in incorrectly." He snapped his fingers and the bonds holding Erza disappeared. She was immediately on her feet, a sword in her hand, but Jose was faster. Long fingers curled around her neck; threatening; dominant. Jellal, Gajeel and Juvia, all of whom had started at once towards Jose, were forced to stop yet again.

"You go first," he instructed Jellal, his eyes glittering. "We're going to go down to the engine room together, and you will open the seal yourself." To Gajeel and Juvia, he added, "You two follow behind. If any one of you makes a move, Titania dies. _Go._ "

It wasn't a command Jellal could afford to ignore. He could feel Jose's gaze burning into his back all the way down to the engine room. Having his enemy in his blind spot set his combat instincts screaming, and it was all he could do to keep putting one foot in front of the other. Still, if there was one good thing about this arrangement, it was that Jose, from behind him, wasn't able to see his moment of utter relief as he pushed open the door to the engine room and found it deserted.

Someone had shifted the stack of crates again – they weren't the first people to come down here. The crates now formed a haphazard pile a few metres away from the exposed door, which was still sealed shut. Jellal's gaze fell upon a dark shape sticking out from the bottom of the pile, which could have been a crumpled box but just might have been a foot attached to a hastily hidden body, and he wondered if they weren't the _second_ people here either.

Jose, clearly misinterpreting his hesitation as reluctance, jabbed him sharply in the back. At the same time, his grip tightened around Erza's neck; it was her involuntary hiss that really motivated Jellal to move. Swallowing nervously, he began to walk forwards.

"Finally," Jose hissed. "No more tricks. This is the end."

A particularly loud roar came from the engine, and the airship tilted slightly before righting itself. As everyone cast concerned glances towards the growling machinery, Jellal took the chance to kick the protruding foot back under the stack of crates. The absence of the mage Jose had sent down here to retrieve Lullaby clearly hadn't clicked with him yet, and Jellal wanted it to stay that way.

 _BING-BONG._

Everyone present jumped as the airship's public address system went off again, Jose more so than anyone. Wrinkles of embarrassment and fury added an extra ten years to his face as Mira's chirrupy voice rang out over the noise of the engines.

 _"Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. We will shortly be arriving at our destination, and the fasten seatbelt signs have now been illuminated. So, if you would be so kind, please wrap up your boss battles, stow your weapons of mass destruction in the overhead compartments, and prepare for our final descent."_

"We shouldn't be landing for hours yet," Jose growled, as the resounding chimes of Mira's announcement faded to nothing. "Still, even if this ship survives your inexperienced pilot's landing, I'll be long gone. Open the seal, or your little Fairies die."

"Alright," Jellal said, his heart in his mouth.

He placed his right palm against the floating seal. A circle of numbers, zero to nine, appeared around the outside. Slowly, reluctantly, hardly daring to breathe, he touched six numbers in turn. The whole defensive mechanism flashed green, and then temporarily vanished, allowing the door to swing open of its own accord.

Beyond the door lay a small cavity, no bigger than three-foot square at the base, and just tall enough for a man to stand inside. Ultraviolet lights bathed it in an eerie glow. At the centre of the cavity there was a waist-high pedestal, upon which sat a glass case.

The case's door stood open.

It was empty.

"Oh dear," Jellal remarked, and he didn't sound the least bit sorry. "Looks like someone beat us to it."

Jose's mouth hung open. "But… but…" he stammered. "It can't be gone! It was definitely on board this ship! That's the case it's always sealed in! So, where… why isn't it here?"

"Looking for this?" a cool voice interjected.

Jose whipped around so quickly there was almost a sonic boom. There was a girl standing in the doorway of the engine room. Between her neat blue hair, slight build, and trendy yellow dress, she looked even less like a fearsome combatant than a master of ancient languages, but she was certainly both of those things – something that the flute whose song brought death to all who heard it, which she was currently resting against her shoulder as casually as a troll might hold a club, attested to.

Everyone in the room, Fairy and former Phantom alike, was frozen. In fact, the only person not staring at the newcomer in sheer astonishment was Jellal, who tilted his head slightly skywards, a broad grin stretching across his face. "That's my girl."

"Give me that!" Jose howled, and he lunged at Levy.

"Oh, Jose!" Jellal practically sang in delight. "That's not you turning your back on me in the middle of a fight, now, is it?"

Jose realized his mistake a moment too late.

The power radiating from the enormous engines drowned out everything else in the vicinity. It perfectly disguised the magical signature of the Council's protective seal. It had rendered Levy's magical presence – and that of the artefact she held – indistinguishable from the background noise, allowing her to hide unnoticed behind the door as the others entered the room.

And not even a Wizard Saint could summon magic powerful enough to stop Jose so quickly – unless he had been using the concealment provided by the engines to build it up unnoticed within his body from the moment he entered the room.

As soon as Jose let go of his hostage, turned his back on his most dangerous opponent, and reached for his prize, Jellal hit him at point-blank range with an orb of crackling black energy. It wasn't enough to end this – he already knew that nothing short of Abyss Break would carve through the magical resistance of a former Wizard Saint at full strength – but it certainly helped to level out the playing field. Besides, the look on Jose's face as he was struck was reward enough.

Nor was he the only one who acted. Jose belonged to him – after the torture Jellal had endured as his prisoner, that was a given – but Erza, Gajeel and Juvia made short work of Jose's allies before coming to stand at their friend's side.

The disgraced ex-Guild Master staggered to his feet, fuming. He glanced from Jellal and his companions back to Levy, who still stood alone in the doorway, Lullaby clutched in her hand. He didn't need to fight all his opponents at once if he could just get his hands on that.

He hadn't been playing fair all day. Why should he start now?

* * *

Levy reached this realization in the same instant Jose did. She spun around and sprinted back down the corridor, causing Jose's attack to miss her by millimetres. She didn't dare turn to see the hole it tore straight through the steel-reinforced walls. She had to keep running.

Catching the sound of Jellal cursing over her own pounding feet, she briefly hoped that he and the others were following her – before she pushed that thought out of her mind. There was no guarantee that _any_ member of their team could stop Jose. She had to keep Lullaby away from him, no matter what.

So she ran: hurtling fearlessly down pitch-black tunnels; scurrying like a lizard up the ladder back to the guest areas of the ship; enduring the tug of ethereal hands at her clothes and hair, for fighting them off would take precious seconds that she could not afford to lose.

A head poked out from a doorway further down the corridor. Levy's heart lurched at the thought of being trapped with enemies in front and behind – and she had never been so happy to recognize Lucy's voice.

"Levy! This way!" her friend called, beckoning her towards the door.

However, Levy's feeling of relief vanished just as quickly as she realized where she was being led. "Lucy!" she yelled. "I don't think this is an appropriate time for a bathroom break!"

"Trust me!" Lucy shouted back.

Levy did. She charged through the door and found herself inside a bathroom that had apparently been hit by a typhoon. She would have stopped short if Lucy hadn't seized her hand and dragged her into the furthest cubicle.

Except they weren't in a cubicle at all. They were stood on the top deck of the airship, with the fresh breeze blowing in their faces and the open sky before them. Lucy took this in her stride, continuing to pull a disoriented Levy towards a section of broken railings, where another figure waited – Gray. The moment he saw them, he stepped back over the edge and disappeared. Levy might have screamed if she had any breath to spare, but fortunately this too was part of the plan. As she and Lucy approached, she noticed belatedly the ladder of ice clinging to the edge of the airship, which Gray was rapidly descending.

"Come on!" Gray called up to them. "We've got to get out of sight before Jose appears!"

"Easy for you to say," Lucy muttered, climbing down as quickly as possible. "This thing is so cold, my fingers are sticking to it."

"It's _ice,_ Lucy. What were you expecting?"

"Have you considered working in a more ally-friendly medium? Metal, maybe? Or plastic? That's nice and safe. No one's ever caught hypothermia from plastic…"

Fighting back a smile, Levy felt the fear of her brief flight vanish as quickly as it had appeared. Gripping the flute's body between her teeth to free up her hands – and trying not to think about how surreal it was to carry a weapon of mass destruction like that – she followed the bickering pair down the outside of the airship.

And it was not a moment too soon. She could hear Jose's unmistakeable shout ringing out from the deck above as she descended. How long would it take him to work out where she had gone?

Gray was clearly thinking along the same lines, because he created another series of handholds and began climbing horizontally along the side of the ship. "Hurry up!" he hissed to the others.

Lucy looked at the rungs he had created, the gaps between them, and the ground so very far below. Her grip on the ladder tightened. "Can't we just stay here until it's over?"

"Trust me, we do not want to be clinging onto the side of the airship when Mira finally puts it on the ground. Remember her biplane landing?"

The sideways climb along the outside of a moving airship suddenly looked a great deal more appealing. "…Point taken."

* * *

 _I should have known that would happen._

Jellal couldn't hear Erza's shouts for the voice berating him in his own head as he set off after Jose at a run.

Of course Jose wasn't going to give up just because he had been beaten to Lullaby. Nor would he hesitate to unleash his full power upon a mage far weaker than himself, if he thought it would bring the revenge he so desired within his grasp. The word 'fair' wasn't even in his vocabulary. No, he should have known Jose would go after Levy rather than stand and fight.

 _Having allies is a real pain,_ he decided. Erza had sworn never to speak to him again since he had prioritized her life over stopping Jose; his actions, though they might have postponed his team's defeat, had earnt him no respite as now Levy was in immediate danger; and he had no idea if Lucy or Gray had even survived the miniature missions he had sent them on.

Of course, he would be dead were it not for Erza's intervention, and Jose would have Lullaby if not for Levy's, but he was choosing to ignore those facts for the time being. Annoyance was a feeling he could use in battle. Sentimentality would only get in his way.

"Siegrain!"

With a start, Jellal realized that he was no longer running on his own. Loke had appeared right next to him, matching his exhausted pace with an easy jog.

"What?" he snapped to the Spirit. For once, he wasn't trying to be rude – he just couldn't afford more than that one word right now. Still injured, still weak; it was no wonder Jose was pulling away from him.

"Get up to the top deck! Now!"

"Don't you dare tell me-"

That was all Jellal could manage before the need to breathe took over, and Loke seized the chance to interject, "Please! Just trust me!"

Jellal glared at him and he gazed earnestly back. The hem of Jose's shoulder-cape whipped around the corner and out of sight.

 _Well,_ he reasoned. _These Fairy Tail mages have been doing the whole 'team' thing for a lot longer than I have. There's a chance they might actually know what they're doing._

So he broke off the indoor pursuit. A door to another executive lounge stood ajar; he slipped through it and ran full pelt towards the floor-to-ceiling window, breaking through in a rain of sun-dipped shards. This time, he plummeted a good five metres before his magic kicked in. He had told Erza that he felt like he would pass out if he so much as stood up too quickly, and that was before he had struck Jose with the last of his magic; he very nearly lost consciousness right there in mid-air. Battling the waves of dizziness, he focussed his power, and somehow he soared up the side of the airship once again.

He overshot the top deck and lingered there in the sky for a moment or two, trying to regain his bearings. He saw Levy, Lucy and Gray scurrying down the ice ladder and felt a jolt of panic. How could Levy possibly have beaten him here? Had he actually blacked out-?

All of a sudden, Jose sprinted out onto the top deck – and stopped as though he'd hit an invisible wall. "This isn't right!" he exclaimed, falling back on the helpful villain habit of speaking his thoughts aloud. "This should be my hideout! How is this possible?"

Oh. Now Jellal understood. Lucy and Loke must have reconfigured the portal so that it connected to the airship's top deck rather than Phantom Lord's current base of operations. They had likely sent Gray through in advance, so that he could provide Levy with an escape route. How they had managed to sort all that out amongst themselves… well, it was probably a combination of luck and improvisation, but Fairy Tail seemed to wield those twin swords with the skill and faith that Jellal would have afforded nothing but his magic, and with equal return. Perhaps he had been right to rely on that crazy guild, just this once.

Apparently deciding that the portal was malfunctioning, since there was no Levy in sight, Jose wheeled around – only to find Jellal standing in between him and the portal. Jellal's head was screaming in pain, since he had just fallen several metres out of the sky to make his dramatic appearance on time, but the shock value was worth it.

"Give it up, Jose," he said, pleased by how steady his voice sounded. "It's over. Lullaby is beyond your reach now."

He sincerely hoped this was the case, anyway. In an ideal world, Levy would pass the weapon on to someone like Happy, who could fly away from the ship and take it somewhere safe until the battle was over. Unfortunately, while this guild seemed to have the whole team coordination thing down pat, they didn't have an ounce of common sense between them.

With any luck, Jose wouldn't know that, and he'd give it up as a lost cause. Jellal pressed, "Your plan has already failed, so you might as well make it easy on yourself. Come with me, and turn yourself in."

"I think not."

Jose sounded too smug. That wasn't a good sign. If Jose became confident enough to initiate a straight fight here and now, Jellal was done for. He still hadn't come up with a plan that would let him beat a superior opponent with the meagre amount of power he had remaining.

But Jose didn't attack. Instead, he continued, "Call off your Fairy friends and bring me Lullaby, and I'll let the hostages live."

"Nice try. You don't have any hostages any more."

Jellal didn't have any proof that Gray had rescued the hostages as instructed, of course, but it was already too late to go back on the whole 'trusting your team' thing now.

Jose just gave the deranged grin of a man who had nothing left to lose. "Everyone on board this ship is my hostage. Even your precious Titania and her friends. Shall I demonstrate for you?"

There came again that cloying sense of power pressing down upon the deck. A whole host of shades appeared, merging into one great lance of darkness that hovered at Jose's fingertips. Jellal tensed, wondering if it would be possible for him to dodge it without blacking out – and what it would do to the gondola behind him if he did.

But it wasn't towards him that Jose sent the lance flying. It soared up into the air, higher even than the top of the _Grand Hurricane_ – before swerving of its own accord and cutting an enormous gash along the length of the helium-filled hull. Shades flittered around within the canvas, tearing into the gas cells with glee.

The airship, along with all its crew and passengers, began to lose height.

"I can repair the damage easily enough, if you bring me what I want," Jose assured him. "Otherwise, well – this ship will crash, and everyone on board will die. I shall simply take Lullaby from the wreckage."

Jellal said nothing. The steady descent continued.

Impatiently, Jose prompted, "It's your move, Councillor. What are you going to do now?"

Jellal took a deep breath.

"What am _I_ going to do, you say?" he replied. "Absolutely nothing."

"Nothing?" Even Jose, the one who had just condemned all the innocents on board the airship to certain death, seemed taken aback by Jellal's complacency. He gave a bewildered laugh. "Well, you and I will survive, I suppose. We are too powerful to die from something such as this. Perhaps you are hoping that your dear Titania will survive the impact as well. Still, to think that you would willingly let so many civilians die… I wonder what she'll think of you then."

"I never said they were going to die. Only that I wasn't going to be the one who saves them."

"…What?"

"We're certainly going downwards, Jose, I'll give you that. But don't you think it's a little odd that we don't appear to be accelerating? In fact, I'd even go as far as to say that this is a perfectly controlled descent, ideal for landing an airship."

"But that's… that's impossible!" Jose glanced around in desperation, confirming Jellal's assessment of the situation. "All the helium should have escaped! We should be falling under gravity! You may be able to fly with magic, but I know you don't have the power to lift something this big!"

"But as I just told you, I'm not the one doing anything," Jellal corrected him, with an exaggerated sigh. "I've got a whole bunch of mages with me who take anything labelled 'impossible' as a personal challenge. They're the ones who are going to save everyone. It's called teamwork, Jose. You should try it sometime." He couldn't help grinning at the ex-Wizard Saint's expression; the balance of power was shifting once again. "I know, I thought so too, but hey – you can't argue with the results."

Jose's mouth was hanging open. "But… how…?"

He must have been able to sense them. There were three familiar magical presences shining high above them: the cold, sharp, yet always dependable aura of an Ice Make user; the sturdy and resolute power of a Phantom-turned-Fairy Dragon Slayer; and, blazing just as brightly as Jose's or Jellal's had before, the miniature sun of the Fire Dragon Slayer's magic.

"Well, I'm just guessing here," Jellal said casually, "But I imagine the first has sealed the tear in the canvas, the second is assisting the conduction of thermal energy to keep the top cool and the bottom warm, and the third is supplying a hell of a lot of heat to the bottom of the hull. Who needs helium? Those three have turned this airship into one giant hot air balloon."

Natsu's angry shout drifted down to them. "Goddammit, Siegrain!" he roared. "I want to be down there fighting Jose!"

Jellal cupped his hands to his mouth and called back, "You're doing great up there, Natsu! Keep up the good work!"

Jose was spluttering something unintelligible.

"Well, what do you know?" Jellal smirked. "No one on board this ship is going to die, and you _still_ don't have Lullaby. Your move, Jose."

The ex-Guild Master blustered, "Your little trick won't save anyone! The ship is still going down! We're right above a city – there's nowhere for it to land! It'll crush the houses beneath it!"

"Not just any old city," Jellal pointed out. "Magnolia."

"Precisely! You'd even destroy the place where you're currently living?"

"Here's something interesting I learnt the other day," he said, yawning, as if he wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention to Jose's spluttering. "Did you know you don't need a permit to take private vehicles out on Magnolia's lake? I don't think anyone will mind if I park my airship there for a few hours."

"But- but- your novice pilot can't possibly be thinking of attempting her first ever landing _on water!_ "

"Her _second_ landing. Her first, so I have been informed, was on top of a moving airship. Compared to that, a water landing should be a piece of cake."

 _BING-BONG._

The public address system went off with impeccable timing, as if Mira had been listening to their conversation. Which she probably had. She had control of all the airship's systems, after all, including its internal security camera network. In fact, he wouldn't have been surprised to find that she was the one who had ensured Gray, Gajeel and Natsu were right where they needed to be. She wasn't someone he would ever underestimate again, magic or no.

 _"Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I have recently been informed that Magnolia does not, in fact, have an airport. In light of this glaring oversight by the Mayor, we will instead be making an emergency landing on the lake. As I cannot find any information in the user manual pertaining to the waterproofing of the airship, I would advise all passengers to immediately ascend to the highest levels of the ship, since these will take the longest to flood in the case of a leak. Thank you for your cooperation."_

"I would find something to hang onto if I were you," Jellal advised Jose. "Apparently her landings aren't the smoothest."

Although Natsu and the others had the ship's buoyancy under control, they were still descending at what felt like an alarming rate. Jellal and Jose glared at each other for as long as they dared, until the airship suddenly tilted below them and they simultaneously decided their pride wasn't worth the risk. Jose ran for the railings and clung on for dear life. Jellal braced himself within the doorway to the main ship, which was no longer functioning as a portal.

The first they knew of touchdown was the enormous splash, though that word didn't really do it justice; it came with an almighty roar that put the crashes of the sea during their jet ski battle to shame. The falling ship slowed, stopped, and began to rise again – although not quickly enough to beat the tidal wave of displaced water, which swept over the main deck and almost knocked both combatants overboard. For one terrifying moment, the airship refused to settle, and Jellal wondered if it was light enough to float on water without the helium, but Natsu was still pouring out more heat than a furnace up above them, and it stabilized.

They were down. And there they would remain; their waterlogged engines weren't going to re-ignite any time soon. They were stuck, immobile and just about afloat, in the middle of the lake.

 _BING-BONG._

Mira sounded very proud of herself. _"Hello once again, ladies and gentlemen. We have now arrived at our destination. We apologize if the centre of Lake Magnolia is not quite the destination you were expecting, but hijackers will do that to a schedule. You'll notice that the fasten seatbelt sign is still illuminated. Please do remain exactly where you are for the time being; our attendants will be along to help you find a way back to dry land as soon as they have finished dealing with the little dark mage problem. Of course, it is perfectly acceptable to violate the fasten seatbelt sign if your room is flooding. On behalf of your Captain, I would like to apologize once again for the few minor hitches on today's flight, and I sincerely hope that it will not put you off flying Fairy Airways again in the future."_

"That's optimism if I've ever heard it," Jellal muttered, glancing across to where Jose was hanging limply over the railings, as if motion-sick from the rough landing. "Dealing with the little dark mage problem, huh? I guess she's looking to me for that one."

"Too slow." Jose wheeled round. The sickness was only a feint; there was a ball of surging violet energy clutched in his hands, which he flung unhesitatingly towards his opponent.

There was a silver blur and Erza was there, Adamantine Armour already equipped. Her shield cracked and shattered, its enchantments finally broken by the beating it had taken that day, but it had done its job.

"How many times must you get in my way?" Jose hissed at her.

"As many as is necessary," came her steadfast response.

Jellal raised his eyebrows at the back of Erza's head. "And there I thought you said you were never going to forgive me."

Erza said nothing. She did not even look at him; he could not begin to guess at her expression.

Instead, it was Juvia who rested her hand upon his arm. "Don't be mean to her," she whispered to him. "She feels really bad about what she said to you earlier."

"I know," he conceded softly.

The two sides stared each other down. Jellal suspected he wasn't going to get any more reinforcements, assuming Lucy was at the portal, Levy was protecting Lullaby, and Mira, Natsu, Gajeel and Gray were busy stopping the airship from sinking into the lake. Somehow, he, Erza and Juvia were going to have to take down Jose.

And despite how well things had been going so far, he _still_ hadn't come up with a plan that would allow him to circumvent the tremendous gulf in power between his team and their opponent.

Erza made the first move. Even without magic, she was fast. She may not have been able to switch to one of her enchanted armours, but her sword was as deadly as ever. Juvia unleashed a blast of pressurized water as Jose danced out of Erza's path, and Jellal added his own token attack, knowing nothing of that level was a threat to the ex-Wizard Saint. He risked a glance across the lake, scanning for the obvious landmark – the guildhall that had become both prison and home – and he almost paid for it with his life.

In the instant he had not been paying attention, their number of opponents had tripled. A soaked and bruised Aria, with toilet paper dangling from one elbow, warped into the air in front of him. He was holding what looked like a long and thin snowman, which closer inspection revealed to be a frost-covered Sol, frozen stiff and shivering from his stint in the freezer. He was rapidly thawing out in the afternoon heat, and Aria, though battered, was perfectly poised to attack. Juvia shouted a warning and Jellal managed to spring out of his severing airspace just in time.

Both sides closed ranks in the lull that followed. Jellal, Erza and Juvia stood with their backs to the main body of the airship – between Jose and the hostages, for all that it mattered now. The two former Element 4 members stood on either side of Jose, facing them. With the lake stretching out in all directions, the combatants had nowhere to run.

There was no way that this could end except in all-out battle – battle against an opponent Jellal already knew he couldn't beat. Erza was utterly exhausted, and Juvia wasn't much better. And to top things off, Jose had gained reinforcements. The Fairy Tail team didn't even have the advantage of numbers.

 _Numbers._

Four mages. Four elements.

Maybe, just maybe, they had a chance after all.

"Erza," Jellal murmured.

She didn't respond. Perhaps she was still angry. But he knew Erza, and no matter how much she might resent him, she would put it all aside in an instant if that was necessary to protect her guild.

"I have an idea," he continued. "Do you think you can Requip once more?"

"Once," came the stiff response. "Which armour do you want?"

"Flame Empress."

Now she did look at him, confusion creasing her brow. "But none of our opponents use fire magic."

"Precisely." And then, on impulse, he added the same two words which had persuaded Levy to follow Lucy into what should have been a dead end; had led him to abandon pursuing Jose and head up to the top deck without any proof that it was going to help: "Trust me."

It really did seem to work with this guild. She managed to complete the Requip, although the cost to her already-exhausted source of magic left her unable to stand without using that brilliant red blade as a crutch.

A smirk played across Jose's face at the sight. He spread his arms wide. "This is the end, Fairy Tail. Not one of you is strong enough to stop me, not even your pet Wizard Saint. All you've done is bring me to the doorstep of the very guild I seek to eliminate. I will destroy you right here, wipe out all the Fairies remaining on the ship, and prise Lullaby from that girl's cold, dead hands."

"What happened to you, Jose?" Jellal asked, affecting sorrow as he shook his head. "You used to be a gentleman. A respected Guild Master. A friend to the Council; a Wizard Saint looked up to by mages everywhere. And now… you don't care how many people you hurt, or what happens to you in the end, as long as you get your revenge."

"Because I have nothing! I lost everything because of Makarov!"

"No, you lost because you declared war upon a guild you couldn't beat. But even then, you didn't lose _everything._ You lost your guild and your title, sure, but other members of your guild also lost their livelihoods, and they managed to pick themselves up and move on – a new city; a new career; a new guild. But you? You became so obsessed with beating Makarov that when you discovered it was impossible for you, there was nothing left in your life. No motivation to move on; no other way of seeking happiness. Just that hatred, pushing you far beyond the point of reason."

Jellal paused, and seemed to consider his own words for a moment. "Well, I can't pretend I don't know what that's like. I'm not trying to talk you out of it, or anything. That would be a little hypocritical of me. But, you know, when you say it out loud, it really does sound stupid, doesn't it?"

He sensed the power building up around the other's body and decided it was probably time to stop lecturing him. "Well, whatever. I don't need to understand you to know what I have to do."

Slow, steady, confident, Jellal walked forward, placing himself between Jose's team and every other living being on the airship. "If you want to hurt anyone on this ship, you'll have to do it through me."

Mild surprise entered Jose's tone. "I was going to do that anyway. It's nice of you to volunteer to die first, though."

There were clouds gathering overhead, and ripples moving through the water: a portentous black vortex centred upon Jose, as the raw magic he was emitting grew strong enough to shape the seas and move the skies. Even in its unformed state, it was visible to the naked eye; an ethereal shimmer painting the landscape with silver and lilac and shadow. Jellal watched it take form without a sound. All his instincts were screaming at him to run, yet he did not move a muscle.

"Don't misunderstand me," he said calmly. "If you turn your full power against me now, I will turn mine against you, and one of us will certainly die. But are you really so sure it won't be you?"

"Of course," Jose sneered.

"Then let me ask you something. If you're so confident you can beat me in a contest of sheer power, why didn't you just do that from the start, rather than getting your henchman to try and drain my magic instead? This entire struggle could have been avoided."

Hesitation. The miasma of magic remained, but it did not take on a physical form. "There was no need to risk our battle knocking the airship out of the sky."

"Maybe that was it," Jellal shrugged. "Or it maybe it was because you have no idea how powerful I truly am. I'm the youngest Wizard Saint in history, Jose… and I wasn't given that title by mistake. Go ahead; test your ultimate magic against mine. I will not be the one to die."

"You're obviously bluffing. You could hit me with everything you have left all at once and it still wouldn't be enough to repel my magic, let alone kill me. You're far too weak to use Abyss Break right now."

"Is that so?" came the cool response. "You spent so long trying and failing to work out how I could use that magic – so what makes you so confident that you suddenly understand it now? Is it really that I don't have a way of stopping you… or is it just that you're too ignorant to see it?"

Jose's eyes flashed, though he did not speak.

Jellal shifted slightly, as though bored; his gaze did not leave Jose's for an instant. "Go on, then. Do it. I am right here."

A crash of thunder came from directly overhead. Rather than taking the gamble himself, Jose glanced wildly to his left and right. "Kill him!" he commanded, of his two remaining warriors.

From one side, a pulse of pressurized air. From the other, a rush of earth; a line of lethal stalagmites punching up through the deck in succession. Neither touched him. Erza's burst of flame and Juvia's jet of water met them mid-flight. All four elements locked together in a stalemate, each unable to make any headway against the others; exploding and collapsing and exploding again.

"Then I'll do it myself!" Jose howled, and he raised his hands above his head, about to call down the magic he had summoned.

Jellal was no longer paying him any attention. "Oh, would you look at that," he remarked, to the unstable core of elements blazing in the centre of the deck. "Fire, water, earth and air. How terribly convenient."

"You can't-!" Jose shouted, understanding just a moment too late.

He could, and he did: Jellal strode forwards and plunged his hand into the heart of the imploding star.

Instantly, it rippled and changed to the silver of moonlit snow. Like a conductor before the world's most majestic orchestra, Jellal raised his free hand and traced arcane patterns onto the furnace, forming the shape of a great magic circle Jose knew so well – knew, yet had never been able to use, for years of study had not yielded to him an understanding of its secrets.

Jose froze on the verge of unleashing his terrifying power; Jellal found that bite point and hovered there too, smiling up at his opponent. "Bluffing, was I, Jose?" he laughed. "Go right ahead. You use your ultimate magic, and I'll use mine."

"That's impossible! You can't do that… not even you…"

But there was no conviction in his voice, and his denial did not become action. Seconds heaved by like hours. Neither of them moved, not even to breathe, lest it be taken as a sign of weakness.

"I don't really want to kill you," Jellal informed him coolly. "I'm a member of the Magic Council, you know. There'll be a tribunal and everything. It'll be such a pain. Back off, and I'll do the same."

"I will not!" Jose howled, yet despite the apoplectic burning in his eyes and the spittle flying from his mouth, he did not unleash his magic.

"Mutually assured destruction, then." Jellal shrugged, as though it mattered little to him. "As I said, I'm a good law-abiding councillor, so I won't strike first. It's in your hands. Pull the trigger, and you won't live long enough to lament how close you were to reaching Makarov."

The ex-Guild Master was shaking so much, it was a minor miracle he didn't release his power by accident.

A minute of stalemate went by. Then another. And another.

"Forget Makarov."

Jose's feverish mutter, thrown to the wind.

"Forget Fairy Tail."

Unearthly winds whipped across the lake's surface. The airship groaned under the weight of the magic invoked as Jose stretched his hands above his head.

"I won't lose to you! I WON'T!"

But instead of the apocalypse, it was a lone roar that tore through the stalemate: _"JOSE!"_

Jose knew that voice. Knew it, and hated it more than anything. Once, it had belonged to a man with whom he shared a harmless and good-natured rivalry; now, it brought back memories of a crushing defeat and a castigating power that far exceeded his own.

"M-Makarov?" he stammered.

There he was, the old Guild Master, stood atop the ship's railings with his arms folded, exuding such a terrifying aura of power that even a dragon would have turned tail and scurried home. His diminutive stature could not have been more misrepresentative of the magnitude of his might, and all of it was fully awake.

"Stand down, Jose," Makarov commanded, and he did not need magic – his voice alone was enough to shake the earth. He nodded towards Jellal. "Unless you want to fight two Wizard Saints at once, and you didn't fare so well against my Fairy Law last time, I seem to recall."

Jose's eyes flickered from the Guild Master to Jellal and back again, sizing up his options.

Makarov continued, "As always, I will give you until the count of three."

On one side, Jose found himself facing the golden magic radiating from between Makarov's palms, a holy starlight that still haunted his nightmares. The first time, that hateful light had been merciful, in the hope that defeat would teach him a lesson. Makarov would not make the same mistake twice.

 _"One."_

On his other side lay the almighty power he had never quite been able to make his own, and though its wielder had far less experience than Makarov, Jellal's knowledge of magic was clearly superior to his own. After what Jose had already put him through that day, he would not be merciful either.

 _"Two."_

He had been prepared to take his chance against one. Two was certain defeat. Even if he managed to kill one, the other would surely finish him.

There was nowhere for him to run. In fact, there was only one route that wouldn't lead to his own utter annihilation.

 _"Thr-"_

"Alright! I give up!" Jose shrieked. "I'll come quietly!"

He threw his arms up in surrender. At that signal, the cataclysmic storm that had been on the verge of breaking paused, and then ran in reverse. Beams of sunlight pierced through the grey heavens. The lake's surface became still once again. All the power that the ex-Wizard Saint had been building up around him diffused out across the water like a ripple of serenity, banishing the sense of gathering gloom.

Once he was certain it was over, Makarov did the same: the warm glow of Fairy Law receded; the impression of titanic power slowly withdrew; the universe, which had been holding its breath, gave a sigh of relief.

The only exception to this trend was Jellal. "Oh, thank heavens for that," he said, and the silvery magic around him vanished. It didn't recede, or disperse – it just disappeared in an instant, as if a cable had been severed. He collapsed sideways onto the deck and remained there, unmoving.

"…Eh?" Jose blinked.

Unsurprisingly, Erza was the first to move. She was at Jellal's side in an instant, supporting him; panicking as she tried to find a pulse. At first there was no response. Then his eyes opened, and her heart fluttered as his pupils contracted and dilated again, before finally focussing on her.

"Are you alright?" she demanded.

"Not really, no."

Erza tried to help him into a sitting position, but his body wasn't having any of it. He slumped straight back to the deck and remained there, spread-eagled. She knelt down beside him. "I can't sense any magic from you at all! What happened?"

"Exactly what it looks like." Jellal would have shrugged, but even a small motion like that was beyond him right now. "I ran out of magic power."

"But… You can't have done. You were just about to use Abyss Break!"

"No, I wasn't." When she blinked in confusion, he even managed a weak laugh.

Over her shoulder, he could see Fairy Tail mages swarming the deck. Once Mira's radio message had reached the guild, and they knew exactly what their comrades on board the airship were dealing with, there had been no shortage of volunteers to commandeer boats and head out to the crash site with their Master. They easily subdued and bound Aria and Sol, while others disappeared into the ship itself to find the former hostages and begin ferrying them back to shore. Fairy Tail, being Fairy Tail, probably hadn't thought to contact the authorities, but with a hijacked airship crash-landing in the middle of a lake, it wouldn't be long until the Rune Knights turned up to secure the dark mages and look after the passengers.

Makarov was busy tying Jose up with the same magic-suppressing rope they had used on Jellal back when they first caught him breaking into Erza's room. Perhaps it _was_ a useful thing to have lying around a guild.

Once his prisoner was secure, the Guild Master glanced across the deck, and his gaze met Jellal's. Makarov nodded once, gruffly; a small smile touched Jellal's lips. That was all the gratitude either was going to get from the other, but it was all that was needed. They understood each other perfectly.

It was over. They had well and truly won.

So Jellal grinned up at Erza, victorious and smug, knowing that he was perfectly safe to admit his exhaustion. "Remember how I told you not half an hour ago that I didn't have enough power left to cast Abyss Break? Well, the only thing that has changed between then and now is that I've used up even more magic power."

She stared at him, not understanding. "But… you were using the power of us four, and our elements! Weren't you?"

"You really thought I'd be able to cast something as intricate and catastrophic as Abyss Break using stolen magic? No one can just take control of other people's magic on a whim. If the power was being supplied by four willing allies, it _might_ be possible… but with the magic of my enemies? Maybe if I were some sort of omni-elemental Dragon Slayer…"

He couldn't help laughing at her stunned expression. "That's the best thing about being a Wizard Saint. You declare you're going to do something impossible, throw in a few flashy light effects, and everyone just assumes you're circumventing the laws of magic in some clever way they wouldn't understand."

"But…"

"All I was really doing was using up the last of my magic trying to stop those four elemental attacks from tearing my arm apart," he assured her. "I knew I couldn't use Abyss Break, but I needed to convince Jose that I could. Fear of that was the only thing that could have stopped him from attacking the airship for long enough for Makarov to get here. I don't know what would have happened if he hadn't shown up when he did."

Erza knew, but she couldn't say it out loud. She could barely even bring herself to think it.

He had been bluffing the entire time, and if Jose had called it, he would have died in an instant.

He must have been so scared.

"I couldn't tell," she admitted, quiet and shy. "You looked so confident… I honestly felt like you could beat him."

Jellal tried to sit up, and with her help, this time he managed to stay upright. "Because you told me," he said simply. "You told me that when Jose first appeared in front of us, I looked scared. That it was clear I wouldn't be able to win. I realized that I was going to have to try a lot harder, if I was going to be a proper leader for the team who came to save me."

For a moment, Erza couldn't speak.

She remembered how he had sworn to Natsu that he would save everyone; how he had begun working together with his team as if he hadn't spent the past four weeks wishing he could be rid of them; how he had trusted the words of those he fought alongside without doubt; how, knowing he could not win himself, he had gambled everything upon the arrival of a Guild Master who may or may not have been coming.

And, even though he had no power left, he had not hesitated to place himself between Jose and the other Fairy Tail mages.

Before she knew what she was doing, she had flung herself at him and was hugging him tightly. Jellal was rather taken aback by this. It was one thing to be hugged when he was half-delirious from physical and mental torture, in need of support and consolation; it was quite another when he was perfectly sane and really quite pleased with himself, especially when it came out of the blue.

Erza didn't seem to notice his bemusement. She was too busy sobbing into his shoulder.

"I'm so sorry," she murmured. "I'm sorry for what I said to you… I really thought you were just handing over the code to Jose. I'm the one always going on about how you should trust our friends in the guild… and yet you had no issue with putting your faith in Levy and the others, whereas I couldn't bring myself to believe you had a plan that I was unable to see. I just… I'm so sorry."

Jellal couldn't remember the last time he had been at such a loss regarding what to do. "Umm, it's okay?" he guessed, patting her awkwardly on the back. "I'm sorry I couldn't tell you what I was planning. If I was to have any chance of fooling Jose, I needed to fool you as well."

"I know," Erza whispered. It was about then that she seemed to realize what she was doing. She scooted backwards and placed her hands on his shoulders, as if she was having to fight to keep him at arm's length. "Sorry," she muttered again, glancing away; a pink flush crept across her cheeks. "I shouldn't have done that. It was… too forward of me…"

"Oh, I don't think he was complaining," a cheerful voice interjected. They both looked up to see Mira approaching, a black and gold pilot's hat nestled atop her hair.

"I really wasn't," Jellal confirmed, and then, because it didn't seem to be helping Erza regain her composure, he swiftly changed the subject. "Nice landing, by the way."

"Thank you," Mira beamed at him.

"Guild's errand girl, my foot. If I ever need something doing that's so ludicrously reckless not even the rest of your guild will attempt it, you'll be my first port of call. If this is what you're like after retiring, I dread to think how terrifying you were as an active guild mage."

"I'll take that as a compliment," she chuckled.

"Siegrain!" This was Levy. Now that the fighting was over, all the mages who had been involved in the mission were returning to the deck to regroup with their friends, share their tales of derring-do, and help to ferry the passengers back to dry land. As soon as Levy spotted him, she jogged over, Lullaby still clutched in her hand.

"Ah, Levy." Jellal held his hand out for the artefact. "Perfect timing. I'll take care of-"

But she didn't hand it to him. Instead, she whacked him round the head with it.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"You told me the wrong code!" she shouted.

"Of course I did!" came his baffled response. "Jose was listening! I could hardly just give him the proper means of opening the seal, could I? That's why I read out the numbers in reverse order, and added a reference to chapter twenty of Radick's _Introduction to Armantian Runes_ – the chapter about the variant rune system that reads right to left rather than left to right! I knew that you would understand the hint, and Jose wouldn't!"

"A _brilliant_ plan," she said, sarcasm dripping from every word. She looked fearsome indeed; partly because she was towering over him with her hands on her hips, but mostly because of the weapon of mass destruction still clutched in her fist. "Except with one minor problem. Chapter twenty isn't about the reversed rune system. That's chapter eighteen."

"…No, it's definitely twenty! I was reading it just the other day!"

"Well, perhaps it is, in your original, illegal, 'I can read whatever I like because I'm on the Council and laws don't apply to me' edition. However, in the official, licensed, _legal,_ edition, in which several chapters were removed by the censors before it was allowed to be distributed, the right-to-left variant is discussed in chapter eighteen. Chapter twenty is about the linguistic links between Armantian and Junivian runes."

"…Ah."

"You can say that again." She glared at him with a fire he had not seen from her since the day she had caught him in Erza's room. "You left me with a string of numbers and a meaningless hint. It was sheer fluke that the mage Jose sent got to the door before me. I hid and watched as he put your code in and was struck by the trap. It was only then that I realized you'd deliberately given me the wrong numbers and screwed up the clue somehow. I had to _guess_ at what you'd meant! It just so happened that reversing the order of the numbers was the most obvious thing I could think of that you might have done, so when I heard you and Jose approaching, I had one chance and I went with that."

"Well, it worked out in the end, then, didn't it?"

She was not impressed. "If I'd put the wrong numbers in, I could have died!"

"Council seals aren't designed to kill," he muttered defensively. "Worst it would have done is knock you out for a bit…"

"I - COULD - HAVE - DIED!" she repeated, and just in case the volume wasn't enough to get the message across, she reiterated each word with another whack to his head.

"Alright, alright!" Jellal shouted, throwing his arms into the air as Erza and Mira burst out laughing. "I'm sorry, okay? It was my fault!"

"Yeah. It _was_ your fault." She jabbed him again with the flute.

"Look, I _said_ I'm sorry," he said, somewhat reproachfully. "What more do you want?"

"Weeeeell…" Levy appeared to think about this, although he had a growing suspicion that she had made up her mind before this conversation had even started. "I can think of a way in which you could make it up to me…"

"…Oh, fine. If you can convince Makarov to give me the day off tomorrow, I'll take you into the Council Archives." As she jumped into the air, letting out a victorious whoop, he added gloomily, "I'll have to go up there anyway and report to the Chairman about this utter disaster of a mission…"

"It wasn't a disaster." Natsu. It seemed as though every Fairy Tail mage on the ship wanted to be part of this conversation. Jellal wished it could just be him and Erza again.

But the Dragon Slayer clearly wasn't going anywhere. He folded his arms; somehow, this pink-haired troublemaker was pulling off 'stern' at a level that would have made his Guild Master proud. "Not entirely, anyway," he continued. "You did exactly what you promised. You defeated the hijackers, protected the Council's artefact, and none of the hostages were hurt."

"No." A faint smile crossed Jellal's face. "I didn't quite keep my promise. I said I would do all that on my own, but if you and the others hadn't been here, I wouldn't have even come close."

Natsu grinned at him. "And _that_ is how a proper mage operates."

He held out his hand, and Jellal considered it for a moment. He thought about how desperate Natsu had been to face Jose – a combination of his two favourite things, fighting strong opponents and protecting his guild – and how he had given that up without hesitation when it had become clear that only he could stop the airship from crashing to the ground. "Indeed," Jellal said, and he let Natsu pull him to his feet.

"Dunno why you lot at the Council are always so pessimistic, though," Natsu added, as an afterthought. "This is what we in the guild call a victory, and that means there is gonna be one hell of a party tonight."

It was Gajeel was responded. "I don't care about a party, just so long as I don't have to spend the rest of the evening decorating those bloody parade floats again."

"Seconded," agreed Jellal, with feeling.

"Of course, that's assuming we can actually get back to the guildhall sometime tonight…" Lucy spoke up.

Mira tried to reassure her, "I'm sure the rest of the guild will come back for us, when they've finished taking the prisoners and passengers to the shore."

"How long is that going to take?" Jellal wondered, watching the small fleet shrinking into the distance and trying to calculate how many round trips they'd need.

"Good point," Juvia offered. "It might be faster to just swim back."

"…Let's wait for the boats. I love boats. Boats are great."

"Oh, yes, I had forgotten," Erza remarked, clapping the disgruntled Wizard Saint on the back. On one hand, he was relieved to see her back to her usual not-crying self; on the other, he did not like where this conversation was going. "You can't swim, can you? This seems like the perfect opportunity for you to learn."

"I don't _need_ to learn," Jellal scowled.

"Nonsense. It's a vital skill."

"It's not vital when you can fly," he pointed out. "Which I can. When I'm not exhausted, or… taken by surprise in the middle of an intense moment." He shot an annoyed glare at Juvia, blaming her for the fact that everyone knew that little detail about him in the first place.

"You have a weakness that you're fully aware of, and yet you're choosing not to do a thing about it?" Erza sounded outraged. A shameful prickling shivered along his skin.

"I wouldn't call it a _weakness_ …"

"Oh, really?" Erza chose to cut short his protests by shoving him into the lake. "And what, pray tell, would you have done if Jose had done _that_ to you during your fight?"

Jellal would have answered her, but his mouth was suddenly full of water, and all the witty retorts were gone from his head as he spluttered and writhed and tried not to drown.

"You know, if you stopped thrashing about, you'd find that human beings are actually quite buoyant," she called down to him.

"Erza," Lucy ventured. "I'm not sure the 'learn or die trying' method is really the best way of teaching someone how to swim."

Natsu added, "Yeah, not even he should have to go through that. I'll go and help." He jumped into the lake.

Jellal had a feeling that this gesture was less to do with altruism on Natsu's part and more a desire to get off the airship-turned-boat, but opening his mouth to point this out would only hasten his demise. Mira took pity on him and tossed him a life ring she had salvaged from one of the rescue boats.

There were more splashes as others joined them in the water, as if they hadn't just been fighting for their lives – as if they hadn't a care in the world. Natsu and Gray were having a good-natured water fight; Lucy – after concluding that her clothes couldn't actually get any wetter – was floating about quite happily; Juvia was trying to show Jellal how to tread water; Aquarius had summoned herself, but rather than sweeping them all away, she had spent a full minute laughing at a perplexed Jellal so hard that she couldn't breathe before disappearing without mentioning a word about the photoshoot; and most importantly, Erza was back to her usual self.

Yeah, this was just about right for Fairy Tail. Dealing with an ex-Wizard Saint gone rogue was nothing compared to surviving a full four weeks with these people.

Still, as someone who had just put his life on the line to defend this guild, Jellal accepted that he didn't have a right to complain about it. And as he bobbed around, utterly worn out, in the middle of the chaos, it occurred to him that he might not have complained even if he did.

* * *

 _ **A/N:** Nice happy note to end on there. The entire team came together to save everyone on the airship, and as part of that, Jellal has proven himself to Erza and come to respect his guild. That means we're all ready for the final arc to begin next week. We're on the home stretch now, folks. ~CS_


	23. Last Resort

**Kidnapping Erza**

By CrimsonStarbird

* * *

 **Chapter Twenty-Three: Last Resort**

"Right, then." Mira clapped her hands together briskly. "I hereby call this emergency meeting to order. Siegrain's up at the Council with Levy all day, and Erza has gone to discuss the route for the Fantasia Parade with the Mayor, so we are not going to get a better opportunity to come up with a plan. Are you with me?"

"Juvia is with you!" Juvia declared fiercely.

"Yes, yes," Lucy sighed.

"Aye, sir!" Happy chirped.

"Why the hell am _I_ here?" demanded a grumpy Gajeel.

"Because we need a wide range of opinions," Mira explained, as though this somehow justified her collaring the four of them on their way into work, dragging them to the guild's basement, locking the door behind them, and ordering them to sit around a table, at the head of which she was currently standing.

Gajeel opened his mouth to protest, but Mira had already taken his half a second of silence as agreement, and moved on. "This is the situation," she announced. "Tomorrow is Siegrain's last day in Fairy Tail, and then he's going back to the Council. Plus, he's away from the guild all day today. That means we only have one day in which to get him and Erza to confess their feelings to each other. We must not underestimate the challenge before us."

"Question." Lucy raised her hand, much to Mira's delight. "Didn't Erza explicitly ask you not to interfere with her and Siegrain?"

"Ah, but that's the thing. We're not interfering. Interfering would be taking direct action, like a love potion, or a truth serum, or deceiving them with illusions of each other, or otherwise tricking them into speaking their feelings out loud while the other is secretly listening in."

"…You've given that way too much thought."

"Desperate times call for desperate measures, Lucy." Mira brushed the accusation aside matter-of-factly; water off a duck's back. "But, in honour of my promise to Erza, we won't be doing any of that. Our role must be discreet and undetectable. We all know that they both like each other – it's just that Erza won't admit it because she's too anxious, and Siegrain… well, I don't really understand what's going on in his head; maybe he's just clueless when it comes to romance. Still, whatever the reason, it's obvious to everyone except the two of them that they both like each other, but neither is courageous enough to make the first move. What we need to do is subtly provide the perfect environment to encourage one or both of them to confess their feelings of their own accord. Understood?"

"Yeeeees," Lucy said doubtfully. "But I'm not sure I like where this is going…"

"Don't worry. As I said, I've already ruled out the obvious things, like trapping them both in a locked room and slowly turning up the thermostat."

"That wasn't quite what I was talking about," the girl muttered, her cheeks glowing red.

"So what do you have in mind, Mira?" Juvia queried.

"Ah. Well, this is a stroke of genius, if I may say so myself."

With a flourish, Mira produced a rolled-up flier from nowhere and spread it out on the table. Juvia read, "…Miss Fairy Tail Contest?"

"Isn't it brilliant?"

Interested despite himself, Gajeel asked, "What is it?"

"A beauty pageant that the female members of Fairy Tail can choose to compete in, with the winner decided by popular vote. We've held them before, once or twice, so it won't seem suspicious if we include one as part of tomorrow's Fantasia celebrations."

"How is this going to help them get together?" Happy wondered.

Mira's response was just as bright as ever. "Two reasons. One, it will encourage Erza to dress up in her most flattering outfit, or perhaps a bikini, and then we can parade her in front of Siegrain. If that doesn't prompt him to ask her out, nothing will."

Lucy and Juvia exchanged exasperated looks. "…You really think that'll work?" Lucy asked, with more than a little scepticism.

But it was Gajeel who answered; a short, sharp, "Yes."

As both girls turned to look at him in surprise, the Dragon Slayer raised his hands defensively. "What? She's a good-looking girl, alright?" Then, with his gaze fixed on the table, he added, "Besides, it's not like you're trying to get him to fall for her based purely on her looks. He already has feelings for her. You just need to give him a push so he makes things official, right?"

The basement was so quiet that they could hear Natsu and Gray squabbling over a job request several floors above them. "…You're surprisingly good at this," Lucy remarked.

"I knew bringing you into this discussion was a good idea," confirmed a somewhat smug Mira. "See, we can show Siegrain what he's missing out on by hesitating to officially ask her out, while simultaneously reminding him how popular she is in the guild – and how someone else is bound to ask her first if he keeps delaying."

"I still don't think it will work, though," the blonde girl warned.

Mira shrugged. "Me neither, to be honest. But that's where the second reason comes in. Erza loves this sort of thing. Every time we've done it before, she's really got into it. If we run the contest, it will provide an excuse for her to dress up and really put herself out there, and that, along with seeing the support she has from the audience, may just be the confidence boost she needs to tell him how she feels. What do you think?"

Lucy mulled it over for a few moments. "Now that could work."

Mira nodded. "Better than nothing, right? So, shall we go ahead with the contest?"

"Yes," Gajeel said immediately and not at all shiftily.

"…You just want to watch the pageant, don't you?" Happy snickered.

"I just wanna help them get together; what's wrong with that?"

Before an argument could start, Juvia suggested, "Juvia thinks we should do it. What do we have to lose?"

"Of course, to make it convincing, we'll all need to participate as well," Mira pointed out.

"Juvia will join in," agreed the water mage. "Maybe she'll be able to catch Gray's eye while she's at it…"

Lucy, however, was not so keen. "Umm, me? Competing against you lot? Mira, you're a semi-professional model, and Erza… well, she's Erza."

Tapping the old flier, Happy pointed out, "Hey, Lucy, look. Last time, there was a cash prize of fifty thousand jewels."

"I'll do it!"

"…Well, that's that problem solved," Juvia smiled.

"I can only hope that it will be enough," mused Mira. "We – and they – are running out of time."

* * *

 _I certainly haven't missed this,_ Jellal thought to himself, as he stepped out of the grand Council chamber and let the door swing soundlessly shut behind him. Alone at last. He stared up at the lofty ceiling, vaulted white-grey stone as old as the regime it sheltered; the air he breathed was stale with ancient laws and unchanging ideals.

For all its age, the palatial building where the Magic Council conducted all its business displayed neither cobwebs nor cracks. It was the centre of power of the whole magical world; it had to look pristine. Of course, that didn't mean it was perfect. Its flaws simply were not the physical kind.

Slipping his hands into his pockets – an act unbefitting a man of his standing – Jellal trudged down the corridor, grimacing at the echo of his every footstep upon the stone. He had never liked this place. In fact, he had never liked being a member of the Magic Council full stop. What he enjoyed was the deception and the challenge and the thrill of the game; having Etherion at his fingertips and the fate of the whole world resting upon his palm. The day-to-day tasks that came with governing the magical world were tedious at best, and downright infuriating at worst.

 _Of course it would be_ my _fault,_ he thought. A scowl familiar to all those who had ever worked alongside him darkened his features; the snap of his heels upon the floor grew a little louder, a little angrier. _Never mind that it was the Chairman who authorized the transfer of a deadly artefact from my Archives without consulting me first. Never mind that it was the Council who voted to smuggle it onto a civilian airship, again in my absence, and without asking me or another Council mage to guard it. Never mind that I was the one who prevented Lullaby from falling into the dark mages' hands, saving all the hostages and an entire mage guild in the process. No, this situation all_ my _fault, because_ I _was the one who revealed the mule ship system to a bunch of guild mages._

Well, it wasn't as though he didn't understand the difficult position that the Chairman was in. The Magic Council was in trouble. Even though the crisis had been averted and the damage contained to a single airship, the flood of questions from the media – and the lawyers representing the wealthiest of the passengers – would not be so easily deflected. Even if Fairy Tail kept quiet, it was only a matter of time before the fact that the Council had been using civilian airships to transport dangerous artefacts became public.

It went without saying that the system would be shut down immediately, and not least because it worked only as long as no one was aware of it, but the media would have a field day with the information nonetheless. Serious questions would come to light about the Council's conduct, and the resulting furore would be one that even they might struggle to weather. This would be the single biggest blow to their credibility in years.

So Jellal _did_ understand why the Chairman was so upset. He just had no sympathy for him. Especially not when the Chairman's initial reaction had been to try and pass as much of the blame as possible onto him, when what he should have been doing was congratulating him on his defeat of an overwhelmingly strong opponent. Yes, his handling of the airship situation hadn't been perfect, but given the circumstances, including how close he had come to death himself…

This game of politics, where the direction of the wind made allies into enemies and defeating the bad guys always took a back seat to out-negotiating political rivals, was certainly not something he had missed over the past four weeks. And neither was it something he was looking forward to returning to, when his time in Fairy Tail was up.

 _Even so,_ he reminded himself firmly, _I certainly_ will _be glad to get out of this guild and back to my position as Master of the Tower of Heaven._

Still, if Simon was right, then what, exactly, would he be going back _to_ …?

He gave his head a vigorous shake, as if to clear it. He could worry about that later. After all, he still had one full day left as a Fairy Tail mage, which meant he could expect about three attempts on his life between now and then.

 _For now,_ he decided, _I should probably go and rescue Levy from the Archives._

He turned into the dimly lit corridor that would take him down to the halls below the Council building, and stopped in his tracks.

 _Well, rescue my Archives from Levy, more like._

And he set off down the corridor at a run.

* * *

The Council Archives were a strange hybrid of library and gothic crypt, as if the architect hadn't known the difference between "museum" and "mausoleum" and thought it safest to just combine the two. This was where the Council kept all the dangerous or cursed artefacts it confiscated from the public, along with tomes of forbidden magic and remnants of long-lost magical civilizations. Rows of carefully catalogued relics were interspersed with statues of crooked hags and otherworldly demons, crippled with age and all the more terrifying for it. It took new researchers several months to become acclimatized to the ubiquitous cobwebs, dim lighting, gothic décor and general creepiness.

Not that any of this was without purpose, of course. Cobwebs abounded because it was far too dangerous to allow cleaners into the Archives, while special deep red or borderline-UV lighting was necessary for the preservation (or sedation) of some of the more delicate (or volatile) artefacts. There was so much sinister magic concentrated down there that trying to improve the atmosphere with bright colours, incense, or happy music – all of which had been tried by Jellal's somewhat naïve predecessor – inevitably backfired, as the creepy ambience corrupted them for its own purposes. An operation to remove the eerie statues had been priced up a few months ago and quickly abandoned. The bill, so the funding committee had ruled, was scarier than the statues themselves.

Besides, Jellal quite liked it. 'Dark and creepy' was, really, the only appropriate look for a secret collection of confiscated magical artefacts.

Naturally, the shadow-drenched rows and dusty shelves belied the state-of-the-art magical security systems in place. It took Jellal a full five minutes to get through the defensive seals at the entrance, and they were meant to open for him with a minimum of fuss, since he was the one who had installed them. There was also a screen by the entrance which displayed the locations of researchers within by scanning for their magical presences – though admittedly that was less to do with security and more because it was the only way to find anyone in that great sprawling maze.

Today, however, Jellal needed no magical assistance. No – today, he could simply follow the sound of raised voices.

There were four archivists who worked under him at the Council. Two had been monitoring the Archives since long before he was born; they didn't particularly like answering to a man young enough to be their grandson, but they were good at what they did, so he was content to overlook their grumbling. They were sensible, and had kept out of Levy's way.

The other two he had hired only recently. Both were slightly younger than him; students and archivists-in-training. They were significantly less sensible, if the snatches of loud and vigorous argument he could hear within the catacombs' echoes were anything to go by.

"…Well of course that's what happens if you take _The Martyrs of Magic_ at face value," Levy was saying crossly. "But it's meaningless without context. You have to remember that it was published in response to a wave of increased support for the Regressive stance. If you read it as an attack on the Regressive position rather than a promotion of the Progressive one, you can quite clearly see that-"

It was at that moment that one of the archivists noticed Jellal's approach. "Councillor Siegrain!" he exclaimed; a statement which translated as, _We're saved!_

"Oh, hey," Levy greeted him. Her eyes shone with a feline gleam. "These guys were just helping me translate some runes, and we got into a discussion about the history of magic…"

"I noticed," he replied, amused. "Didn't I tell you not to traumatize my employees?"

"We were just having a chat…" the girl protested, as the two students backed stealthily away. "Have you come to join in?"

"No, I've come to tell you that we need to go."

"What, already?"

"What do you mean, _already?_ If we don't leave in the next five minutes, we're going to miss the last train back to Magnolia!"

"…Oh." Levy glanced down at the table, which was strewn with ancient manuscripts and notebooks filled with her own hasty scribbles, and then back up at him hopefully. "Well, you have a house here, don't you?"

"I do, yes," he shrugged. "But I'm going to be on that train, so…"

"Oh, _fine_." With the ease of practice, she swept her notebooks and stationery off the table and into her open satchel, before slinging it over her shoulder and following him through the vault. They passed through the security seals without incident, and once they were out in the open, walking through the cool evening towards the station, she spoke again. "So, did you get everything sorted out with the Chairman?"

Jellal grimaced. "Not really. I'm not looking forward to coming back to this in a couple of days' time."

"Have you decided what you're going to do, then?"

"What do you mean?"

Teasingly, she pressed, "Well, are you still going to get our guild shut down when you leave? You were pretty fixated on that when we first met, if I recall."

"Well…" He shifted uncomfortably; his hands found their way to his pockets once again. "I suppose it would be a shame to waste all the hard work I did in saving this stupid guild…"

When he caught sight of her triumphant expression, his scowl only deepened. "Don't look so smug. It's not as though I've written it off completely. There's still plenty of time for me to change my mind…"

"Yes, yes," she grinned.

The conversation lapsed into companionable silence. They walked side by side through the lengthening shadows of the city, where the scattered streetlights were just beginning to push back against the sun's half-closed eye. Neither would have guessed, back when this had all started, that the man Levy had decided was practically a mortal enemy and the girl Jellal had despised for being one of the most tenacious obstacles between him and Erza would have ended up so relaxed around each other. So much had changed in that handful of weeks.

"Still," Levy pondered. "Not closing the guild is one thing, but what I really wanted to ask is… well, what's going to happen with you and Erza?"

"Erza?" he echoed back.

"Yeah. Are you going to keep seeing each other? She obviously isn't going to leave the guild when you do, so if you go back to living in Era, that would be a problem, wouldn't it? Even for you, that's a long way to travel to see her. Or are you thinking that it would be best to move away and let things come to a natural end?"

"I…"

Jellal stopped in the middle of the street. Levy was not the only person who turned to stare at him, but he did not appear to notice. There was a strange expression on his face.

"I don't know," he said, and it was the truth.

He had given no serious thought to what he would do when his time in the guild was up. Leaving Fairy Tail; returning to the Council; resuming once again that dangerous double life as dark mage and Wizard Saint, rather than living freely alongside the guild mages he had come to respect, and maybe even to like… That these thirty days would end and everything would go right back to where it had been before was an uncomfortable feeling; unexpected, even.

The thought that he would no longer be around Erza every single day – that things like their beach trip or fighting alongside her on the airship mission would cease to be a regular occurrence in his life – had not even crossed his mind.

 _Why_ had it not crossed his mind?

 _Because this wasn't supposed to happen,_ he realized. _There was never a "when my time in the guild is up, and I'm back in the Council" option. The only ending I had considered for these thirty days involved Erza becoming my sacrifice – and thus the end of the world, and with it the guild who had imprisoned me._

 _These thirty days were never supposed to just… end._

And then, like a thunderbolt: _These thirty days_ can't _just end._

Because things wouldn't go back to the way they were before.

He couldn't just return to that life as though nothing had changed between him and Erza. She was different now – different to the girl he had so desired to sacrifice, back when he had first encountered her in this guild. By discarding her armour, she had become strong; by drawing closer to others, by talking things over with him, she had shed her fear of the past. He no longer had the power over her that he once did.

He had come to know the woman she had become: he had seen the strength of her magic with his own eyes; been awed by her willpower; been touched by her kindness. And while it had only confirmed his belief that she was the only one upon whose shoulders the fate of this world could possibly rest, it wasn't as simple as that…

The idea of going back to the Council, far away from her, where every day she might be performing more incredible, world-shaping, life-changing acts that he would not get to see, left him with a feeling of emptiness that not even the knowledge that she would always belong to him could soothe.

No, he couldn't return to that life. Things had changed, and it was a change that could never be undone.

So what would happen, between him and Erza, when he left the guild?

He didn't know the answer to that.

It was never supposed to happen.

 _None_ of this should have happened. Not coming to this guild; not meeting – not befriending – the people here; not talking to Simon on that fateful evening on the beach; not saving these guild mages, nor being saved by them in return. Not having a sincere conversation amidst the sunset streets of Era with Levy. Not feeling uncomfortable and uncertain at the thought of returning to his old life, a life that didn't involve the Erza he had come to know over the past few weeks.

Somewhere along the way, everything had slipped ever so slightly beyond his control. How was he supposed to know what to do now? How could he possibly have planned for this; how could he counter it?

That was what he meant when he said to Levy, "I don't know."

Oblivious to his internal monologue, she simply said, "Well, there's an obvious solution to that problem, isn't there?"

"And what's that?"

"You could always stay in the guild."

This innocent suggestion was met by a round of spluttering as Jellal tried to vehemently protest, point out how stupid that was, and laugh derisively all at the same time.

"I'm serious," Levy added, taking advantage of his inability to talk. "Thirty days was the minimum term, not the maximum."

"Why the hell would I want to stay in this stupid guild?" he demanded, incredulous and bewildered; still struggling to come to terms with the sudden change in direction of his thoughts.

Unfortunately, Levy seemed to take this as a challenge rather than a rhetorical put-down. "One: Erza," she began matter-of-factly, counting them off on her fingers. "Two: because I know you've been having fun here recently, and there's no point trying to deny that. Three: Erza. Four: you're far better suited to Fairy Tail's exciting way of life than the boring job of a councillor; you're a guild mage at heart and your talents are wasted surrounded by stuffy old politicians. Five: Erza. Six: all hell is about to break loose at the Council, and you can't honestly tell me you _want_ to get dragged into all of that. Seven: did I mention that Erza is in Fairy Tail? Along with, you know, _me_ , and Natsu and Lucy and Juvia and the rest of your friends. I'm sure they'd all be happy too if you stayed…"

"Hardly." He gave a dry laugh. "Makarov wouldn't allow it anyway."

"Of course he would. He doesn't turn anyone away. Besides, it's not like he can stop you from joining when you're already a member. Worst he could do is throw you out, and he wouldn't, not without very good reason. Laxus has been behaving awfully to most of us for the past few months, and the Master hasn't expelled him yet."

With a forceful shake of her head, she added, "But that's irrelevant. Of all the things Makarov could have had you do as punishment, why do you think he got you to join our guild? I'll give you a hint: it wasn't because he didn't want you here."

"You don't understand anything."

Levy just shrugged. "I probably understand more than you think. I know, for instance, that the fact you pointed out my suggestion wasn't possible rather than saying you didn't want to do it tells me you're not opposed to it on some level. I know that you've been much happier around the guildhall recently, barring the times when you were practically dying. I know you probably don't want to admit that, but pride is a stupid reason to make yourself suffer through a life you don't want. Staying in the guild is always an option, and no one will think any less of you for taking it – in fact, most of us would be really quite pleased if you did."

"I don't care," he said shortly.

After a long moment, she shrugged again. "Well, you've still got a day to think about it. I just thought I'd let you know where I stood on the matter while I had the chance. Now, I do believe you were saying something about not wanting to miss the train…"

* * *

Jellal's final day as a member of Fairy Tail dawned bright and early. It was the sort of morning that could lift the most pessimistic of spirits, as if summer had stuck around just to watch the Harvest Festival. Not a single cloud disturbed the startlingly blue sky. Even Jellal, as he walked through a town decorated with corn dollies and autumn flowers and balloons – many of which he had contributed himself – could begin to relax a little. At least they wouldn't be doing the Fantasia Parade in a thunderstorm. Maybe, just maybe, the good weather was a sign that his last day as this guild's prisoner would be nice and uneventful.

When he arrived at the guildhall, he discovered that the evening's parade had, in fact, been almost completely forgotten about. The entire guild was instead focussed on something called the Miss Fairy Tail Contest. Jellal, who had not-so-secretly been dreading the parade (or, rather, dreading what Makarov was going to turn around at the last minute and make him wear for it), was in favour of anything that would draw attention away from the parade itself, so his mood was improving still further as he slipped inside the building.

After a quick glance around revealed that none of the girls he usually associated with were present, he went to sit with Natsu and Happy instead. They seemed to be doing a remarkable job of keeping out of trouble; maybe Natsu was making a special effort in honour of the Harvest Festival. Jellal certainly wasn't complaining. His final day was getting better and better.

It wasn't long before Mira joined them. "Just to let you know, there's been a slight change to the schedule for today," she informed Jellal, with her usual welcoming smile. "We'll be kicking off festivities with the Miss Fairy Tail Contest."

"What's that?" he inquired.

"A beauty pageant that some of the female guild members have elected to participate in." Offhandedly, she added, "Would you like to stick around and watch?"

"Is Erza taking part?"

"Of course."

"I might as well watch, then." Mira gave him a sly look; an old, familiar glare found its way automatically to his face. "Well, I've got to find some way of killing time until this day is over and I can finally leave this accursed guild, haven't I?"

At that, she simply smiled once more and let him be. She was almost certainly up to something, but as long as she wasn't trying to drag him into it, he didn't really care. The atmosphere in the guildhall was amicable, perhaps even pleasant. Anticipation for the coming event calmed the usual chaos, as if the guild mages had finally learnt that destroying the stage in one of their accidental brawls would be a sure-fire way of getting the Miss Fairy Tail Contest cancelled.

The light-hearted cheer was the opposite of the Council Headquarters' severe silence; the warm, welcoming ambience was a far cry from the sinister aura permeating the Tower of Heaven. Yet he was somehow used to it. He no longer minded being here, in this unprofessional atmosphere; with these loud and bothersome colleagues. If that wasn't proof of his adaptability, he didn't know what was.

It was a shame he had only fully adapted to this environment on the day he was to leave it. The last few weeks might not have been so terrible if these deceptive instincts of his had kicked in sooner.

Then again, if they had, he might never have experienced the frustration that had led him to accept the airship mission. He wouldn't have been baited into accepting Natsu's road race challenge, or arguing over ancient magic with Levy.

In fact, if he'd been able to adjust to his environment faster, he would never have had so much trouble kidnapping Erza from this guild. It would have been over in a matter of days. He would even now be standing as king of the ruined world, rather than just another mage in just another guild waiting for just another mundane event to begin.

And as he looked around the guildhall, he was struck by the same sense of disorientation that had come over him during his conversation with Levy: he wasn't supposed to be here. This should never have happened. He had been so certain he was going to kidnap Erza that he had no plan in place for if he failed.

But he _had_ failed, so… what was he supposed to do now?

If the opportunity arose, would he kidnap Erza today?

 _It won't happen,_ he told himself fiercely. There was too much going on around the guildhall. Neither he nor Erza would be left alone for a second.

 _But if you were?_ So that little voice in the back of his mind whispered to him. _If you could get her on her own, would you do it?_

The thought made him feel strangely guilty, because he knew that he would not. He had had chances to kidnap her over the past couple of weeks, and he hadn't taken them. There had always been other things going on: things he had wanted to finish off first; things that had seemed somehow more important at the time. On this final day, when he felt more uncertain than ever before, from where would he suddenly acquire a resolve like that?

 _I've got one day left as a Fairy Tail mage,_ he reasoned with himself, as if it were possible to justify this hesitation; this weakness. _I might as well just wait until this is over. It fits better that way. Once I've left the guild, I'll sit down and think about what I'm going to do next. There's no need to rush._

It did occur to him then that 'no need to rush' was very much the opposite of the mindset that had got him stuck in this guild in the first place. He remembered being enthusiastic about kidnapping, and he wondered where that enthusiasm had gone.

It was at that moment that someone tapped him on the shoulder: Erza. "Can I talk to you for a moment?" she asked.

"Sure." He turned to glare at Natsu, but the Dragon Slayer was already shuffling along of his own accord, freeing up a space next to Jellal and beckoning for Erza to sit down.

But she remained standing. Her gaze travelled briefly down to the ground, as if seeking some strange resolve from between her feet, before looking up at him again. "I meant… outside."

"Aren't you going on in a minute?" he checked, waving his hand towards the stage to indicate his confusion. She wasn't even dressed up for the event. It might not technically have been an issue for someone whose magic let her switch outfits in an instant, but the fact that she was still wearing her usual breastplate while her rivals were busy psyching each other out good-naturedly in their favourite swimsuits was telling.

"The contest hasn't started yet. I think we've got time."

"If you're sure."

Out of the corner of his eye, Jellal thought he saw a blonde girl in a cheerleader's outfit giving them the thumbs-up, but when he looked again, she was gone. Shaking his head, he followed Erza out of the guildhall.

Well, this was weird. But his decision had already been made. He wasn't going to kidnap Erza until his time as a Fairy Tail mage was up – even if it was currently just the two of them stood behind the guildhall, looking out over the vast misty lake, while every possible witness was preoccupied by the Miss Fairy Tail Contest indoors.

Fate could dangle as many tantalizing chances as it wanted in front of him. It wasn't going to change his mind.

It looked like she wasn't going to explain herself, so he prompted her, "What is it, Erza?"

"I… I wanted to ask…" Erza took a deep breath, and glanced down at the ground once more. "I can't decide what to wear for the contest. Bikinis are traditional for this sort of thing, but Lucy and Levy are being a little more creative, so I was wondering if you thought I should go for something a bit different, like this…"

Her armour was suddenly gone, and in its place was something he had certainly not been expecting: a goth maid outfit, all lace and frills, a far cry from the elegant, awe-inspiring armours she donned in combat. It didn't look bad on her, merely different, but… why was she asking him this anyway? This wasn't why she had called him out here, he was sure of it.

Shrugging, he said, "Wear whatever you feel most comfortable in."

"…Yeah, I figured you would say that." She gave a rueful smile. "I think I'll stick with this, then. My opponents won't be expecting it."

Jellal didn't have anything to say to that, so he said nothing at all. An awkward silence settled upon the shore of the lake. It wasn't that he minded being out here alone with her, but she just seemed so anxious. She was standing a little further away from him than usual. A month ago, the sight of such timidity would have thrilled him, but now it left him oddly upset.

He said, "Erza, if there's something bothering you, you can talk to me about it."

"…It's nothing."

"Alright, then." The sound of muffled cheering burst through the tension, and he latched onto it with relief. "It sounds like the contest has started, so let's go back inside."

Jellal managed no more than one step before Erza grabbed his wrist. "Wait," she pleaded. "Siegrain…"

"What?"

"You and Jellal, you're…" Everything that she had been too nervous to bring up suddenly came out in a rush. "You're the same person, aren't you? You don't have a twin brother. You're the same Jellal that I used to know when I was young."

Jellal froze. He did not speak. He did not move. Her words might have turned him to stone.

A small smile, perhaps of relief, crossed her face. "I knew it."

"I didn't-" he began.

"I know. But if I was wrong, you'd have said so straight away, wouldn't you?"

Again, his silence was all the confirmation she needed.

"I'm glad." Now that Erza had finally said the words which had been weighing on her mind, she seemed unable to stop talking at all. "I couldn't be certain until I had confirmation from you, so I had to ask, before you left the guild."

"How long have you known?"

If Erza noticed his guarded expression, his careful and even words, then she gave no sign; perhaps she was too relieved that she was right to pick up on what was wrong. "I'm not sure. Whenever I considered it logically, it seemed obvious that you couldn't be the same person. The Council has always known how dangerous Jellal is, so the only way you could possibly have earnt their trust would have been by proving you weren't him. It was much more believable that Jellal had simply never mentioned a brother he presumably thought was dead than that he'd somehow managed to join the Magic Council by pinning everything on a completely fictitious twin."

Much more relaxed now, she laughed. "But… I think there was some part of me that always knew, ever since we first met at the Council. Whenever I wasn't focussing properly, if I was half-asleep or acting purely on instinct, I always saw you as him. I was constantly having to correct myself in my head before I spoke. I couldn't separate the two of you in my subconscious, however hard I tried; especially when you started acting more and more like he used to. I guess at some point I started wondering if my instincts really were so wrong. Though, I suppose it was the way Sho, Wally and Millianna kept showing up at the beach that really gave it away."

Jellal couldn't help grimacing, the first expression he had openly displayed since Erza had begun speaking. "Oh… you noticed that."

"It would have been harder _not_ to notice, with you running around trying to keep them away from us all day long," she replied, a little exasperated. "We _are_ professional mages, you know. We can generally tell when magical battles are being fought right under our noses."

"But you didn't say anything."

"It was obvious how hard you were trying to keep us out of it. It was clearly a personal battle, and it wouldn't have been right for us to interfere. I thought you must have had a good reason for it. I trusted you – I _trust_ you. So, I told the others not to mention anything. I wanted to ask you about it that evening on the beach, but I never got the chance, and then afterwards… well, we never had any time alone, and I didn't want to bring it up in front of everyone else."

While his continued silence confirmed most of her deduction, it also made another thing clear – that he had no intention of explaining the situation to her. A little sadly, Erza continued, "I guess you don't want to talk about it. I understand, but… there is one thing I have to ask. I recognized all the others, but I didn't see Simon anywhere. Is he…?"

"He's on holiday. Travelling. Well, he was; he's back now. He's working as a security guard at the resort, with the others."

At this, she visibly relaxed. "I'm glad. Knowing that they're all alive and well makes me feel so much happier, even though I know it cannot undo the fact that I abandoned them… or that I abandoned you…"

Still Jellal said nothing, and she could not hold that inscrutable gaze any longer, so she turned out towards the lake instead. Its mirrored surface would not reveal the answers she sought, but it might show her the comfort that he, at that moment, did not.

"There's so much I want to say to you," she murmured. "I don't even know where to start. Though, I suppose I've already said a lot of it, haven't I?"

Another shy smile to the hopeful horizon.

"When you first came to the guild as Siegrain, I was so confused. I didn't know whether to hate you, or to fear you… but I was sure it had to be one or the other. I didn't think I was _allowed_ to like you. So as we started to become closer, I got scared. I felt _guilty._ I started avoiding you, and I'm truly sorry about that. But the feelings I had for you didn't change, whether you were here with me or away steadily befriending the rest of the guild and proving that you weren't nearly as bad as you pretended to be…

"I suppose that at some point I just realized that these were _my_ feelings. No one could tell me whether they were right or wrong; whether or not they were allowed. What happened before did not define how I had to feel right here and now. Jellal, and everything he did – everything _we_ did – was all in the past… and the person I liked now was the one standing right in front of me, whoever he might or might not have been. I was finally able to admit that to myself, and when I did, I found that I didn't feel guilty any more.

"And then… Well, in all my life, there has only ever been one man I have felt this way about. I've always known that. It's why I didn't know how to deal with any of this… with _Siegrain_. So it was at that moment, when I could finally accept that I liked him – liked _you_ – for who you were, that I knew for sure. I felt the same way about you as I felt for Jellal back then, and… and after that, no logic in the world could convince me that you and he weren't one and the same."

The breeze had stilled to listen to her confession. Even the cheers from the guildhall were strangely muted, as if the two of them were cut off from the rest of the world.

"Please," Erza whispered. "Say something."

"Well," Jellal said, in a stranger's voice. "I suppose this makes things a lot simpler."

But he didn't say anything more. If she wanted this to happen, it was up to her.

And she did. She had known what she wanted from the moment she had asked him to accompany her out to the lakefront, where they had privacy and peace. It wasn't the most romantic of places, but with the beautiful lake on one side and the guildhall where their present selves had met on the other, she thought she would not find a location more fitting.

Thus Erza turned to face him with shining eyes. "Jellal, I-"

That was as far as she got.

That was all she managed to say before his fist drove into her gut.

When she was at her most vulnerable; when she had opened her heart to him, in the hope that he would accept everything that she had to give – he had struck her down.

She didn't even have her armour to protect herself with. Soft black lace could not stop the magic focussed into that fist, just as her honesty and courage and tentative happiness had not been able to stop his fear.

Her earnest smile became a look of pure shock, frozen onto her face as she was flung backwards. She seemed to spend an age hanging in the air, and even that was not long enough for her to understand. Confusion still held sway when the back of her head slammed against the wall of the guildhall. She was unconscious before she hit the ground.

Jellal was there immediately, sweeping her up under one arm, and then he was half-running, half-flying through the city streets. It didn't matter who saw him now. It was already too late.

No – it had already been too late a week ago.

Erza knew who he was. She had known for days. She had been toying with him; pretending she didn't know; allowing him to go on believing he was safe. Who knew what she might have done in that time; who she might have told? He knew she hadn't informed the Council yet – all hell would have broken loose if she had – but that wasn't a surprise; it wasn't how Fairy Tail did things. No, most likely, everyone in Fairy Tail knew, and they had been luring him into this false sense of security so that they could kill him and destroy the Tower of Heaven. To what lengths would Erza and her friends go to avenge what he had done to her all those years ago?

If only he had listened to her words, he would have understood that he had nothing to fear.

But he had not listened, or if he had, he had not believed her.

Everything had gone out of control.

He was scared, and it was a very different kind of fear to the honest nervousness with which Erza had tried to tell him how she felt. It was the fear of losing everything. It was the fear of dying, helpless, while his plans fell apart around him. And in that fear, that sheer terror, there was no room for rationality.

As he leapt from rooftop to rooftop, ignoring the shouts of alarm in the streets below, he was acutely aware of the fact that his actions in the next few minutes would determine whether he lived or died – whether he stood triumphant as king of the ruined world or wasted away in a prison cell until the day of his execution. There was no middle ground. Not any more.

He had to do, right now, what he should have done thirty days ago.

He had to take Erza to the Tower of Heaven, while her friends were distracted by their infantile festival, and he had to sacrifice her. For now, his sudden move had given him the advantage, but the guild would quickly work out what he had done and come after him. Erza had probably given them the location of the Tower of Heaven as insurance before confronting him. This was a race against time.

Shifting Erza's dead weight to one arm, he reached into his pocket for his communication lacrima. He had to let Ultear know he was moving now, so she could set things in motion at the Council-

 _SLAM!_

It was then that Jellal ran straight into an invisible wall.

The look of shock on his face would have rivalled even Erza's, attacked mid-confession. In fact, he might have won that competition, because the way his face was squished up against the impenetrable air only emphasized his bewilderment.

Combat instincts kicked in. He hopped backwards several paces, drawing his power to him as he set Erza's unconscious form on the ground, ready to fight whoever had intercepted him.

Yet there were no other human beings in sight, let alone enemy mages.

He was right on the very outskirts of the city. With his arms held out in front of him, he tried to walk down the road again, and after a few steps he once more felt the solid pressure of a wall against his palms. This time, he was looking out for it; he could sense the rhythmic pulsing of foreign magic at his fingertips. From the points of contact, purple runes crawled across the barrier, rendering it visible.

At last, Jellal could see what he was up against. And as he scanned the writing on the wall, all his fear was replaced by another emotion – one that had become as familiar to him as breathing over the past thirty days. Unbearable frustration.

"Battle of Fairy Tail?" he read aloud. "Hostages? No guild members can leave Magnolia until Laxus has been defeated?"

Jellal slammed his forehead against the wall of runes. "I bloody _hate_ this guild."

* * *

 _ **A/N:** So sometimes you get chapters in which very little actually happens - because they're final battles and the like, and it takes a lot of words to resolve them. And then sometimes you get chapters in which the whole story seems to happen at once. From Mira's attempt to get them together to Jellal acknowledging that he doesn't know what he wants any more to Erza's confession to Jellal panicking that she knows who he is to the start of the Battle of Fairy Tail... yeah, it's been a bit of a rollercoaster this week. To those who are still with me, thanks for reading! ~CS_


	24. Thunder's Descent

**Kidnapping Erza**

By CrimsonStarbird

* * *

 **Chapter Twenty-Four: Thunder's Descent**

Drawing back his arm, Jellal sent a blast of golden energy towards the rune wall. Shivers of light dispersed harmlessly across its surface; each individual character jittered and returned to normal. A strike like that contained enough power to knock a grown man off his feet, yet the wall had absorbed it without visible damage. The barrier of letters between his sacrifice and the Tower of Heaven remained impenetrable.

Jutsu Shiki. A rune-based enchantment magic. The rules written into the barriers by their caster were inviolable for those trapped inside. When cast properly, not even a Wizard Saint could break through by force, and a quick scan of the runes failed to turn up a single flaw in their construction that Jellal could exploit. If he could find an error – and in a barrier this size, there _would_ be errors – he'd probably be able to deconstruct enough of it to escape, but unless he got very lucky, it would take hours for him to stumble across a suitable flaw. And time was the one thing he did not have right now.

It would be faster to just hunt down the caster and force them to retract the enchantment.

Or, failing that, to find Laxus and beat the crap out of him for daring to pull such a stunt _now,_ of all times.

"Jellal?"

He jumped. He had been so focussed on the rune barrier that he had forgotten all about Erza. Now, she was awake, back on her feet and watching him with guarded eyes. She had Requipped neither weapons nor armour yet, but that didn't matter when one was as fast as she was; he would not catch her by surprise twice. He cursed inwardly.

She pressed, "What's going on? Why did you bring me here?"

"I, uh-"

It wasn't quite the accusation Jellal had been expecting, so he wasn't entirely sure how to respond.

Fortunately, she seemed more concerned with the wall of runes over his shoulder. "Jutsu Shiki?" she pondered, stepping up to examine it. "This looks like Freed's handiwork. But…"

A tense silence settled upon the road as she assessed the situation. Jellal shifted his weight from foot to foot, an unconscious representation of his attempt to weigh up the two conflicting ideas in his mind. Should he attempt to strike Erza down again before she could fight back? Or should he let her go for the time being, since he couldn't kidnap her anyway while they were both imprisoned in Magnolia, and go after Laxus instead?

He still hadn't made up his mind when Erza spoke again. "Laxus… this time, he's gone too far. Taking the competitors hostage and using them to make us all fight one another is unforgivable. He must be stopped."

And then she added, "You knew about this, didn't you?"

Surprised by the sudden ice in her tone, Jellal didn't know whether or not it would be better to lie, so he said nothing at all.

"You knew Evergreen was attacking the Miss Fairy Tail competitors," she persisted. "You _knew_ a war within the guild was starting. That's why you tried to escape with me before we could get caught up in it all, isn't it?"

"I, uh… yes?" he hazarded.

Wrong answer.

Erza slapped him across the cheek. "How _could_ you?" she cried. "How could you, even for a second, have thought that saving me and leaving our friends to suffer was the right thing to do? You _knew_ I'd never agree to run away; that's why you had to knock me out first! Yes, I want to be with you, but not like this! Not when our guild is in danger; not when our friends need our help!"

"Erza-" he tried, but she cut him off with a disgusted shake of her head.

"You know, I really thought you had come to understand what it meant to be part of our guild. I honestly believed that you belonged here… that you'd made friends… that, somewhere deep inside, the boy who led my friends and I through our darkest years was still alive. But, it seems I misjudged you. You don't understand anything. You're not even thinking of me right now – you're only thinking of yourself."

She turned her back on him, summoning a sword into each hand. "If you want to run away, you can do it on your own. I'm sure someone like you will be able to find a way around this barrier in no time at all. I don't care what you do any more. I'm going to fight Evergreen and rescue my friends, and then I'll face Laxus for the sake of my guild. Goodbye, Jellal. I don't think we'll meet again."

And with those words she was gone, sprinting back towards the town and out of sight.

For a long time, Jellal just stared down the deserted road. "Why do I get the impression she would be less upset if I'd just told her I was trying to kidnap her?" he wondered, and he kicked the rune wall for good measure.

* * *

 _That jerk, that jerk, that jerk-!_

Erza punctuated each statement by stabbing another blade deep into the wall.

 _I can't believe he did that!_

A swarm of golden darts condensed within the cloud of dust above her, but she did not appear to consciously notice them. Another four of her blades materialized, floating, by her head. Two of them swung of their own accord to deflect the first rush of missiles; she seized the third in both hands and drove it into the wall with peerless strength, buried up to its hilt in concrete and brick. She flipped backwards as a second flurry of darts descended, one hand on the ground, and kicked the fourth blade into the wall as well.

 _After everything I said to him, to think he would just go and do something like that…_

Her combat instincts were no less acute for the tears blurring her vision. While ineffectually wiping at her eyes with one hand, the other spun a blade so quickly it was a streak of silver, a shield against the rain of glowing arrows; and still she was Requipping more blades every moment, hurling them telekinetically forward with pinpoint accuracy.

 _Stop it,_ she told herself firmly. _If you're going to be upset over something right now, make it Laxus. He's the one holding your friends hostage and tearing the guild apart._

Then again, Laxus wasn't the one she had just confessed to.

The one she had trusted, only to be betrayed once again.

The one she had opened her heart to, because she thought she had known him; because she thought she had seen past all the lies and fallen in love with the man she had found there: a good man, a brave man, a man who cared despite his best attempts not to…

Not a man who would abandon his friends for stupid, selfish reasons as soon as danger appeared.

Trying not to cry took priority right now over trying not to die, though she was managing the latter of those two goals far more effectively.

"I know I told you I didn't mind being protected!" she screamed, kicking another two blades towards the wall. "But that's when I'm the only one in danger!"

She called another weapon into existence for every tear that rolled down her cheeks.

"Not when there are friends who need me!"

Her aim was perfect, driven by the desire to win for her guild's sake; to channel the explosion of anger and heartbreak into something useful.

"Not when my guild is in trouble!"

She needed to be calm right now. Calm, focussed, and level-headed. That was the only way to lead her guild through this nightmare.

She knew that.

And yet…

"I thought you understood that, Jellal!"

"I surrender! I surrender!" Evergreen shrieked.

Erza froze, having completely forgotten just who it was she was fighting. Wiping her eyes with the back of her hand, she registered the scene before her for the first time: Evergreen, Laxus's follower and the one whose magic was currently holding her friends hostage, was pinned to the wall by no fewer than fifty blades. Some outlined her body, some pierced straight through the loose fabric of her fairy-themed dress, and still more hovered only millimetres from her neck, ready to impale her the moment Erza gave the command.

"Oh…" said Erza, feeling foolish that she had not even realized she had won.

"Geez, talk about an overreaction…" muttered Evergreen. "I thought you were really going to kill me there…"

One of the swords nudged Evergreen's throat, applying just enough pressure to ensure that she got the message. "I still might, if you don't release my friends."

"Alright, alright! I know when I'm beaten!"

Once Evergreen had ended her spell over the hostages, Erza allowed all the blades she had summoned to vanish. Evergreen fell to the floor and remained there, mournfully checking the multitude of rips her dress had acquired as a result of the resounding defeat. Now that Erza definitely wasn't going to murder her, a little of her attitude was returning. "I'm not crazy enough to try and cross you when you're in a state like this," she muttered. "What's gotten into you, anyway?"

Expecting some sort of rant about Laxus's despicable actions, Evergreen was somewhat taken aback when Erza instead burst into a fresh wave of tears. "It's nothing," she choked. "Nothing. It's not important."

"…Right. Only, as someone on the receiving end of your madness, I'm not sure I would call it _nothing_."

Instantly there was another sword at her throat. Evergreen scrambled hastily backwards, her hands raised in surrender. "Alright, fine, it's not my business; I get the picture! Stop with the swords already!"

"Where's Laxus?" Erza demanded.

"I don't know! He's somewhere in the city, I don't know exactly where, he didn't tell me!"

"…Very well." After what seemed like an age, Erza withdrew her sword and turned away. "In that case, I shall return to the guildhall and find out what is going on for myself."

And with that she departed, leaving a very relieved Evergreen to slump to the ground, massaging her neck. "I don't know what's up with her," she reflected ruefully. "But I sure as hell wouldn't want to be Laxus right now."

* * *

Somewhere high above, the bells of Kardia Cathedral tolled; a mournful knell in the startlingly bright sky. It was as good an invitation as any. The man stood outside shifted his skull-topped staff from one hand to the other, and slammed open the door.

The sudden sound did not bother the cathedral's sole occupant in the slightest. Laxus stood in the aisle, facing the altar and its ancient organ, bathed in the dappled rainbow light spilling from the stained glass windows. His smile was broad as he turned slowly to face the newcomer.

"Ah, Mystogan," Laxus greeted him, with the confidence of a man who believes he has already won. "I was beginning to think you weren't coming. You've been away from the guild an awful lot recently, even by your own impressive standards. I was worried not even I would be able to draw you out of hiding for my great battle royal. Why _have_ you been so reclusive?"

"…Personal reasons."

Even if Mystogan had been the talkative type – and he most assuredly was not – the reason behind his recent absence from the guild was not one he could share with anyone else: the arrival of his Earth Land counterpart in Fairy Tail. Although he was fairly certain that encountering the version of himself in this world wouldn't cause them both to annihilate like matter and antimatter, it certainly _would_ cause an explosion of awkward questions.

Ever since arriving here, he had taken pains to ensure that he didn't come into contact with this world's Jellal. Knowing Jellal worked closely with the Council, for instance, he had taken up residence in an ordinary mage guild far from Era, where he would theoretically never have to meet his parallel self. Of course, the fact that members of Fairy Tail were constantly being dragged before the Council for one reason or another had somewhat jeopardized this plan, but Makarov was sympathetic to his situation, and his life as a reclusive mage had sorted itself out quite nicely.

Then he had returned to Fairy Tail one day to find Jellal in the middle of the guildhall. And that had complicated things.

Makarov had advised him against revealing himself to his Earth Land self, at least for the time being. Mystogan had agreed. Although he knew nothing of his counterpart's dark secrets, and couldn't begin to guess at why he went by a different name, he had seen enough to appreciate that Jellal was dangerous and unpredictable. After observing from afar the interactions between Jellal and the rest of the guild, and the history he seemed to share with Erza, Mystogan had concluded that it was more important than ever that his fellow guild mages did not learn of his true identity. To that end, Makarov had given him permission to take on one of the longer jobs requiring extensive travel that only Gildarts usually undertook – and that had suited Mystogan just fine, as it gave him greater freedom to pursue his own agenda.

And he might not have returned to the guild for many months, were it not for the Battle of Fairy Tail.

At its commencement, he had returned at once to Magnolia, though he had hesitated to get involved directly. That policy had worked out well, at first. The guild had rallied admirably without his assistance: Erza had defeated Evergreen and freed the hostages, while Lucy had taken out Bickslow and Mira had overcome Freed. But then Laxus had activated Thunder Palace, and all of a sudden the lives of every single person in Magnolia hung in the balance.

No more could Mystogan content himself with sitting back and watching. He had to protect the civilians. Therefore, he had to beat Laxus before the lacrima could unleash their power upon the city.

And if he could also do it before Erza, Natsu, or – heaven forbid – his Earth Land self reached him, it would be fabulous.

"Ooh, the mystery deepens," remarked Laxus, who didn't really care in the least where Mystogan had been. "Still, I'm glad you're here. I was getting bored waiting for someone to come and challenge me."

Mystogan's expression was concealed as always, though the palpable aura of anger radiating out from him left no room for doubt. "This is not a game, Laxus," he warned. "Though you may yet be able to pass it off as one. Deactivate Thunder Palace this instant, and the guild will consider it no more than another part of your fighting festival."

To his dismay – though not altogether to his surprise – Laxus merely laughed. "Not a game, you say? Do you not think that a fight between us, the strongest two in Fairy Tail, would be the greatest form of entertainment?"

 _Strongest two?_ Mystogan thought to himself, bemused. _Does Gildarts not count any more? Because even if your little takeover attempt succeeds, he'll wipe the floor with you as soon as he's back home. You'd be a fool to underestimate Erza and Natsu, too. And I'd pay to see you take on my Earth Land self in single combat. Think my level of skill, but with the added advantage of actually possessing his own magic._

But he didn't say any of that to Laxus. He thought an out-loud logical analysis would compromise his mystique somewhat.

Laxus continued, "I acknowledge your strength, Mystogan. I have always wanted to test it for myself, and yet you've repeatedly turned me down… thus I have made it so you cannot afford to refuse me this time. If you want to stop the Thunder Palace, then come at me, Mystogan!"

Mystogan sighed. He couldn't honestly say he had expected any other outcome from this conversation. "Very well."

And with those words, hostilities were well and truly declared open.

* * *

 _No one who is over eighty years old or a stone statue may pass through this barrier, unless they are a dragon._

"Well, that's not going to help anyone, is it?" Levy berated herself, as she re-read the changes she had made to Freed's rune barrier. Erasing the character for 'dragon', she racked her brain to try and recall the correct way of writing 'Dragon Slayer'. "Come on, Levy, focus."

Unfortunately, focussing was easier said than done. She needed to manipulate the barrier around the guildhall so that Natsu and Gajeel could get out and join the fight, but there were too many worries pushing her runic knowledge out of her mind: Laxus's declaration of war; Makarov's collapse; the minutes steadily draining away until Thunder Palace wiped out every single person in Magnolia. And, as if that wasn't bad enough, Levy was overwhelmingly concerned about Erza.

Because Erza was most certainly Not Okay.

Never mind that she had somehow avoided being taken hostage with the other Miss Fairy Tail competitors, and triumphantly returned to rescue them all. Never mind that she had defeated Evergreen without receiving so much as a scratch in return. Never mind that she had charged into the guildhall with all guns blazing, demanded to know where Laxus was, and then set out to force him to deactivate the Thunder Palace.

Erza was unsettled, unstable, and upset. It was evident from her red eyes and tear-painted cheeks; from the way she had asked three times where Laxus was, not seeming to notice she had received the same answer – "Erza, we don't know!" – every single time; from how she kept breaking off mid-conversation to stare, wide-eyed and trembling, into the distance; or how, when Levy had asked her if she knew where Siegrain was, she had frozen for a full ten seconds before asking for the fourth time where Laxus was hiding.

Levy didn't know what had happened and Erza didn't look like she could talk about it, but one thing was obvious: this was all that jerk Siegrain's fault.

But as much as Levy wanted to find him and punch him in the face, she had bigger priorities right now – like letting Gajeel and Natsu out of the guildhall, so that they could go after Erza and stop her from having to fight Laxus alone while in that state.

Levy gave her head a vigorous shake, trying to push her doubts out of her mind as she double-checked the amendment she had made to Freed's rules. _No one who is over eighty years old or a stone statue may pass through this barrier, unless they are a Dragon Slayer._ That should do it.

"Natsu! Gajeel!" she called.

"About time!" came the answering growl, and sure enough, this time the two Dragon Slayers were able to leave the guildhall and head out after Laxus.

Sighing, Levy capped her pen and got to her feet. The guild's main hall was now empty. Most of her colleagues were lying defeated in the city somewhere – beaten by one of Laxus's team, or in the worst case scenario, by each other. Only a handful of people were still here, and they were in the guildhall's infirmary, so it was to there that she went next.

Porlyusica was sat by Makarov's bed. A curtain was drawn around them; Levy hoped it was to give Porlyusica the privacy from other humans that she preferred, and not because Makarov's condition was so severe she would not allow them to see him.

Bisca lay in the only other occupied bed. She had been completely fine until she had shot down one of the lacrima making up Laxus's Thunder Palace, and ever since then she had been slipping in and out of consciousness, in evident pain from the after-effects of the Organic Link curse bound to the lacrima.

Back when Levy had left the infirmary to modify the runes, all the recently un-petrified girls had been at Bisca's bedside. Now, there was only one person left – a bruised and shirtless Gray. He glanced around as she entered, and guessed at the source of her confusion. "Lucy, Mira and the others left a while ago to join the fight," he explained. "But I'm not much good for that, since I already lost to Bickslow once…"

Levy nodded. "Then help me think of a way to destroy Thunder Palace. That has to be the priority right now. We have no guarantee that Erza or the Dragon Slayers will be able to beat Laxus quickly enough to stop it, and… despite what Natsu believes, it's too much of a risk to assume Laxus is bluffing when he's clearly a bit deranged."

Memories of the time she, Gajeel and her team had encountered Laxus in the park flashed through her mind. Laxus had attacked her without warning, and without holding back; if Gajeel hadn't jumped in the way, she'd have been seriously hurt. And when Laxus and Jellal had fought, she had genuinely believed that one of them was going to end up dead. She didn't want to think a fellow guild member was capable of doing something so terrible, but…

Noticing her expression, Gray gave a terse nod. "What are we up against?"

"Around three hundred lightning lacrima, hovering high above Magnolia. They're enchanted with Organic Link magic, so whoever attacks one experiences the damage bounced back to them – but if we don't destroy them all soon, they'll explode, and the resulting lightning storm will do unbelievable damage to the city and its inhabitants."

"Right. See, I was thinking we could go and find Warren and use his abilities to coordinate one big strike against the lacrima, but… I just can't see how that would work. Even assuming that everyone can reach those lacrima way up in the sky, there's only about a hundred of us! Asking people to take out two or three lacrima each, after what they've already gone through today, is suicide when destroying just one causes this level of damage!" Gray waved a hand towards Bisca's unconscious form. "This happened to her when she was at full strength, and she's not exactly weak! Taking just one hit from Organic Link, when we're already exhausted from the day's fighting, could be a death sentence!"

"Yeah," Levy conceded. "You're right. With the guild in this state, Thunder Palace is an unbeatable weapon."

"No magic is unbeatable," interjected a new voice, cool and scornful. "Though, I suppose it must seem that way to those too ignorant to understand how Organic Link magic works."

Both Levy and Gray spun around. There, sat nonchalantly on the windowsill behind them, was Jellal: arms folded, leaning back, a dark silhouette against the bright afternoon. Flecks of ice danced in his eyes; gloating, superior.

Levy felt in that moment as though the few feet of polished wooden floor between them was an insurmountable distance. All the walls of arrogance and mistrust that the past thirty days had slowly worn away were back, and more. She looked at her friend and saw only a stranger, savage in his lack of sympathy.

"Where have you been?" Gray demanded. "The guild's under attack!"

"That's hardly my problem, is it?" Not simply rude, like he might have been a few weeks ago – no, he was intentionally mocking them; daring them to take the bait. "The sooner Laxus wipes you all out, the sooner I can go home."

"You-!" Gray exploded, and he might have attacked then and there if Levy hadn't grabbed his arm.

"Don't," she pleaded. "We've been fighting each other enough already, haven't we?"

The unsettling light in Jellal's eyes intensified as he watched them, but he said nothing.

After a moment's struggle, Gray seemed to realize it wasn't worth it. Levy released him and began to walk determinedly towards Jellal. Even perched on the windowsill, he was taller than her; he watched her as a hawk would a rabbit – and yet she held that hostile gaze the entire time. If he thought she was going to beg for his help, he was sorely mistaken.

In a voice cold enough to rival his, she accused, "What did you do to Erza?"

Jellal had come here to gloat, not be interrogated; his eyes narrowed in displeasure. "What makes you think I did something to Erza?"

"Because only the man she likes could have thrown her off her game so badly. What did you do?"

"It's none of your business what happens between Erza and myself."

"That's where you're wrong. You're my friend and Erza is my friend and that makes it my business. Because of your actions, Erza is out there on her own, upset and acting rashly during what could well be the toughest fight of all our lives, and _that_ makes it my business too. You have a duty to get out there and apologize to her before someone gets hurt."

Jellal did not dignify that with a response. The flickering shadows dared her to continue.

She dared. She had never been afraid of him. "And as if that's not enough reason for you to get out there and fight, there's an enormous time bomb hanging over Magnolia. If Laxus isn't defeated soon, it's going to wipe out every man, woman and child in the city, guild mage or otherwise. You may not care what happens to this guild, but I know you're not the kind of person who can just stand there and watch as thousands of innocent people are slaughtered. Not after what we went through on the airship; not ever."

He almost smiled at that. Almost, but not quite. "You don't know me at all, do you?"

"Of course I know you. You're my friend; you're my colleague. And I know that's why you're here. Even though you fought with Erza, even though this battle has nothing to do with you – you came to the guildhall anyway, because you just can't bring yourself to walk away, can you?"

"You're wrong."

"Then prove it," Levy said simply. "If you can look me in the eye and tell me that this is how you want things to end, then fine. You can walk away. I won't try to stop you, and no one from the guild will ever bother you again. But if, just _if_ , there's some small part of you that doesn't want to let things end like this, then stand up and _fight._ "

"I…"

And in that moment, the man who had infiltrated the Magic Council and constructed the Tower of Heaven and was _this_ close to destroying the world could not quite bring himself to meet Levy's gaze.

"I _do_ know you," she repeated. "And more than that, I know Erza. She would never fall in love with a man who would let those people die. _Never._ You're the one she chose, and that is how I know: you – are – _better_ – than – that." She punctuated every word by punching his shoulder. "So, prove it. Stop acting like a jerk, and tell us everything you know about Organic Link magic."

The echoes of her fearless challenge rang throughout the infirmary, and for one wild moment it seemed as though a fight between those two unlikely opponents was going to begin right there.

And then Jellal said, "Organic Links form in two ways: physical and magical." Still emotionless, still hostile, and the spark of danger smouldered yet in his gaze, but he answered the question. "Hit the lacrima directly with your body, or with a weapon you are holding the other end of, and a physical link is formed. Magical links are more complicated. They latch onto the magic which makes contact with them, and can trace it back to its caster's magical presence across any distance. This goes for magic which strikes the lacrima directly, such as an elemental attack, but also for any latent magic clinging to a ranged weapon. If magic has been used to aim or fire a rifle, or enhance its bullets; if blades are moved telekinetically; if a weapon has been Requipped or otherwise used to store its wielder's magic – that's enough to form the magical link. To overcome Thunder Palace, you need to come up with a way of smashing the lacrima that doesn't trigger either of those two links."

With that, he fell silent. That was all the help he intended to give them.

Levy and Gray exchanged glances. "Right, then," Levy began, and, a little more bravely than she felt, she looked Jellal in the eye once again. "The magical links work by tracking the unique sense of each mage's magic, right? So all we have to do is confuse that in some way."

Not allowing herself to be cowed by his judgemental silence, she snapped her fingers. "Unison Raid! Destroying the lacrima with the fused magic from two people should work, because there is no single person with that magical presence for the Organic Link to connect to! Right?"

"That might work," Jellal conceded. However, Levy's glow of pride was immediately crushed as he added scornfully, " _If_ you happen to know two people who can produce a Unison Raid on command. Last time I checked, there weren't any monasteries in Magnolia."

"Alright, fine, I didn't think that one through. But at least I'm on the right track…"

"Not at all. You won't get anywhere if you focus only on your magic. You need to think outside the box."

Levy glowered at him. "Don't you dare sit there and make uselessly vague comments at me. If you're going to help, then give us a starting point. If not, then shut up."

After a moment's consideration, Jellal mused, "Using flying magic to get up to a lacrima and then smashing it with your fist would trigger the physical link."

"Obviously, so-"

"However, flying _above_ the lacrima and dropping a rock onto it wouldn't."

"…Ah."

"Get it now?"

She nodded emphatically. "It's not about fooling the magical link. It's about bypassing it completely by not using magic at all. So… ordinary ranged weapons. Crossbows. I'm sure the guards around town will have some that we can borrow. As long as we don't use magic to aim with, we'll be fine."

When Jellal didn't immediately shoot her idea down, she had to fight the urge to punch the air in celebration. Instead, Gray voiced his doubts. "Will ordinary crossbow bolts really be able to destroy those lacrima, though?"

"Placing Organic Link magic upon indestructible lacrima would defeat the purpose somewhat, don't you think?" Jellal replied coolly.

"…Point taken. In that case, there are at least two guard posts within the bounds of the city which have working trebuchets. We could get their help, though only for the lacrima closest to the posts…"

"Fireworks!" Levy piped up. "They're not the easiest things to aim with, but we do have an awful lot of them in the guildhall right now. If we pointed them in the right general direction and set them all off at once…"

"Now you're getting it!" Jellal remarked, caught up in it despite himself.

Gray continued the barrage of ideas. "I'm sure there are a few buildings in town tall enough to let us hit the lacrima with slingshots if we stood on the rooftops."

Levy laughed. "Yeah, I bet if we scavenged enough helium balloons from the festival decorations and tied them to one handcart, it'd float right up to the lacrima – wait! Mira's plane!" To Jellal, she added, "Do you know what happened to that in the end?"

"Last I heard, the Rune Knights had dragged it out of the lake and taken it back to the outpost for repairs. I could go and… no, none of us can leave the city right now."

"Ahem." Levy gave him a bright smile. "I can leave the city."

"How?"

"I can rewrite Freed's rune barriers to let me out."

"…Then you can rewrite them to let _me_ out!"

"Nope," she told him, just as cheerfully. "You're not going anywhere until you've apologized to Erza for whatever it was you did that made her so upset."

He shook his head vehemently. "You'll never make it to the outpost in time. I should go; I'm much faster than you are."

"Nah, I'll borrow Mira's motorbike. It's an emergency; I'm sure she won't mind."

Jellal opened his mouth, and then closed it without saying anything.

"…What?" Levy inquired, bemused.

"I was going to say that I didn't know what was more surprising, that Mira had a motorbike or that you knew how to ride it," he shrugged. "But then I thought about it, and realized that neither of those things actually surprised me."

She grinned at him. "I was reading this great novel about a motorcycle gang back when Mira first bought it, so I begged her to let me have a go, and it turned out I had quite the knack for it."

"Don't ever change, Levy." Jellal reached into his pocket and tossed something to her: his Wizard Saint medallion, sparkling silver as it rested upon her palm. "Tell the Knights at the outpost that I sent you. And if you dare lose that, I'll never forgive you."

Levy's only response was a broad smile.

"I'll go and find Warren, after all," Gray offered. "We'll need to mobilize the whole guild if we're going to stand a chance of destroying three hundred lacrima with conventional weapons. I dread to think how terrible I'd be at aiming a crossbow without magic."

"I'll be back with the biplane as soon as I can." Levy gave a resolute nod, before thumping Jellal on the shoulder once again. "And _you,_ my friend, are going to go and apologize to Erza before she does something stupid."

"Don't you tell me what to do-" he tried, but Levy silenced him with a look. Her hand tightened around the emblem in her hand; with the other, she pointed firmly to the door.

"She was right about the kind of man you are. Now, go and prove it to her."

* * *

The butt of Mystogan's staff lodged into the gap between two flagstones, and the weapon became his pivot, flinging him back in the opposite direction as a bolt of lightning ripped the adjacent row of pews from the floor. Skidding to a halt, he turned again, his ragged cloak flaring out like a dragon's wing, and he slammed his bandaged right hand against the back of the skull topping his staff. An inky-black magic circle burst from the point of contact.

Then it was no longer a mere skull but an entire skeletal dragon, all twisted horns and bony limbs and shadows dripping like blood from agape jaws as it soared towards Laxus. The lightning mage merely laughed. Electricity cracked around his arm; a sweep of his hand ripped the dragon's lower jaw straight off. Its entire body dissolved into shreds of shadow and smoke.

"Is this really the best you can do, Mystogan?" Laxus taunted. "You must have realized by now that none of your illusions can-"

He broke off abruptly. The remnants of the illusion dispersed, revealing that Mystogan had vanished. _Again._

Narrowing his eyes, Laxus scanned the cathedral's nave for any trace of his opponent. Mystogan was running out of hiding places – not because Laxus was getting any better at finding them, but because every time he _did_ find one, he destroyed it. The fact that Kardia Cathedral was one of the oldest manmade structures on the continent did not bother him one bit.

Most of the pews had been smashed to pieces, covering the ancient floor with wreckage of stone and wood; a perilous battlefield for all but the most sure-footed of combatants. Laxus's unruly sparks had blackened the royal red rug. The faint smell of smoke permeated air already thick with stone dust. Fewer than half of the original pillars still stood – one could only hope they weren't supposed to be load-bearing.

It was behind one of the remaining pillars that Mystogan was currently crouched. The skull atop his staff was charred from the power he had channelled through it, so he rested the weapon against the pillar and stood up. That was the third he had discarded: one was hidden behind this pillar's mirror twin on the other side of the hall, and a second was buried under a pile of broken flagstones close to the altar. There were two staves remaining on his back; he pulled one free of its harness and tested the weight in his hand.

"Running and hiding again, are we?" Laxus called, as he prowled through the ruined nave. "I wouldn't mind so much if you were building up to something big, but you're not gathering any magic power at all. This is disappointing, Mystogan. I had expected better from you, of all people."

Without warning, a streak of lightning whipped out, severing the pillar Mystogan had been hiding behind and only just missing his head. Trying not to think about the ominous groan coming from the ceiling, Mystogan flung himself out from behind his crumbling barricade.

Laxus sent a burst of lightning orbs towards him, but it was almost effortlessly that Mystogan dodged them; not missing a step as he hurtled towards his opponent. By focussing on evasion rather than offence, he used his staff to pole-vault over Laxus's head, avoiding the ferocious punch that was aimed at him, and he landed perfectly in control. He whipped around, tripping Laxus with the butt end of the staff.

Before he could strike for any serious damage, however, Laxus's body dissolved into a bolt of crackling energy which rushed straight towards his opponent's heart. Mystogan raised his staff just in time. The enchanted wood repelled the lightning, protecting him from damage even though the force of it drove him backwards, churning up the rubble as he went. He considered the angry sparks zapping along the length of his weapon and decided to leave that one behind as well. With each one he abandoned, the level of magic power he could access dropped significantly, but it was a necessary sacrifice.

Undoubtedly seeing an opportunity in his opponent's decision to surrender his weapon, Laxus shot towards him again, switching back to physical form moments before impact to maximize the damage. Mystogan ducked, and Laxus's flying kick obliterated the poor pillar behind him instead. He flipped backwards, utilizing all his lithe agility to kick up at Laxus as he went, knocking the wind straight out of his opponent.

Lightning, however, had no need to breathe. Laxus switched forms again, dropping his already impressive recovery time right down to zero; with a crack of thunder he beat Mystogan back to the centre of the room. One solid punch drove the cloaked combatant up into the air – where he had no hope of avoiding the terrifying lance of lightning Laxus drove straight through his body.

Mystogan let out a cry. Enveloped by that furious lightning cloud, he was flung back against the cathedral's enormous pipe organ. Yet even as the sharp edges of the pipes and their ornamentation drove into him, the collision had also helped him; the electricity flooded away from his body and along the thousand metal pipes. Freed from its paralyzing grip, he wrenched the final staff from his back as he began to fall and thrust it into the mouth of one of the organ pipes. The magical wood bent but did not break. He came to a halt high above the ground, dangling from the end of a staff protruding horizontally from the organ.

Laxus smirked. "Try dodging _this_ from up there," he challenged. Bringing his hands together, he generated another devastating pulse of electricity, which he flung like a javelin towards his helpless opponent.

Yet Mystogan was not truly helpless. Far from it, in fact. Even hanging from his staff by one arm, he was able to sketch out a triple-layered magic circle so quickly that his hand was a white blur in the cathedral's dusty air.

Laxus's attack hit the shimmering circle and rebounded. Startled, the lightning-user jerked sideways in the nick of time; the bolt of his own power missed him and blew the last remaining pillar to bits instead.

As the sparks died away, and an illusion of serenity settled across the battlefield, Laxus's relief at his narrow escape evolved into arrogance. "An impressive trick. But tricks alone aren't enough to beat me, Mystogan. And when it came right down to it, you missed."

Despite this, Mystogan looked calm – or as calm as it was possible to look while dangling one-handed in the air. His voice was certainly cool as he informed Laxus, "I wasn't aiming for you."

For the first time since the fight had begun, Laxus's smug expression seemed to falter. He slowly looked up at the ceiling – but his understanding had come a moment too late. The ceiling was no longer high above them. With the destruction of its last support pillar, all that ancient stone was now plummeting down towards him.

Alarm ignited Laxus's magic. A wave of furious electricity burst out from him, blasting away the rocks that came too close. With a barrage of punches, he met the collapsing ceiling head-on: so great was his strength, he could smash stone slabs to pieces with his bare fists. The artificial earthquake slowly ground to a halt, leaving a great gaping hole in the once-impressive ceiling, but Laxus was still standing – breathing heavily, and bruised from the pummel of the rocks that had slipped through his defence, but just as strong as ever.

Now that the rubble had settled, Mystogan released his grip on the staff and landed lightly atop the altar. The two of them watched each other impassively. After the thunderous destruction of the cathedral's roof, the silence was deafening.

The bark of Laxus's laughter broke the stillness. "Not bad," he remarked. "But merely destroying a building won't even come close to stopping me. You've failed, Mystogan."

With the cloth concealing Mystogan's face, Laxus wouldn't have been able to see him smile, but enough of his satisfaction was evident from the way that he pointed up at the hole in the ceiling without a word.

Laxus looked. "…Ah."

As it turned out, Mystogan _had_ been building up to something big. Rather than letting the magic of his staves accumulate within the cathedral, however, he had been gathering it all in the sky above – where the thick stone ceiling had prevented Laxus from sensing it in the heat of battle.

Now, that ceiling was gone. The five floating magic circles were visible to both the combatants, along with the titanic volume of magic power flowing like rivers of light between them. Around the wrecked cathedral nave, the five staves that Mystogan had pretended he had been forced to discard were glowing, forming a perfect pentacle of light with Laxus at its centre.

Laxus inclined his head slightly, an uncharacteristic show of respect. "I take it all back," he murmured. Far from being a show of concession, though, a slow smirk stretched across his face. "I'm glad I didn't underestimate you."

As all of Mystogan's might was brought to bear against him, Laxus clenched his fist. The polarity of the electric charge upon his body immediately reversed. And the excess charges his earlier strike had intentionally deposited onto the organ's pipes reacted at once, forming an arc of electricity that took the shortest route towards Laxus's outstretched fist – straight through Mystogan's body.

This time, both of them screamed in pain. Laxus fell to one knee under the crushing power from above. Mystogan staggered, but remained upright – yet the advantage, which should have been his, was most certainly not.

Laxus's retaliation had achieved two things. The unexpected blow had disrupted Mystogan's concentration while he was executing a highly technical finishing move, and so the attack which might have put Laxus out of the fight completely didn't hit him for nearly as much damage as it should have done. Secondly, and most crucially, the bolt had scorched a great hole in the cloth Mystogan used to conceal his face. He had no choice but to discard it before it could catch fire. And that stopped him more effectively than any amount of damage.

Laxus struggled to his feet, scrutinizing his opponent intently. "You _are_ Mystogan, aren't you?" he demanded.

"…"

"I assumed you were," Laxus continued, frowning. "But then again, it would be just like that coward from the Council to dress up as the one man in the guild whose strength I acknowledge in some vain attempt to frighten me… _wouldn't it, now?_ "

"…Mmm…" Mystogan offered non-committedly. He supposed that with both him and his Earth Land self in the guild, the fact that Laxus had already known his true identity only made distinguishing between them more awkward. As nice as it would be to have this fight count as a loss for Jellal rather than him, that wouldn't go down well if the fate of the guild ended up resting on a true showdown between his Earth Land self and Laxus.

But the sound of running footsteps brought to his attention a far more pressing issue. Even if the cathedral's shell had hidden his and Laxus's destructive fight from those still competing in the Battle of Fairy Tail, that five-layered technique he had just attempted would have been visible from all over the city; a beacon announcing Laxus's location to all and sundry.

His being here, unmasked, would cause… complications. Complications that the guild – or, more importantly, Erza and Jellal – didn't need right now. He could no longer participate in this fight.

The sound of Erza's unmistakeable shout echoed through the vestibule. "LAXUS!"

Mystogan closed his eyes. "My part in this battle is over," he murmured, as he vanished into thin air. "It's up to you now, Erza."

* * *

 _ **A/N:** So, most of the Battle of Fairy Tail is just going on as normal in the background, because if I wrote the whole thing we'd be here all day. Since this is Jellal and Erza's story, I want to focus on the parts that are relevant to them - namely, Thunder Palace and the extended showdown against Laxus. I wanted to establish some concrete rules for Organic Link before that all kicks off for Erza, and of course Levy's taking no nonsense from Jellal. I wasn't intending to write Mystogan vs Laxus at all, it just sort of happened, but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I think the main reason why things go differently here with regard to Erza discovering his identity - other than the fact that I'm the one choreographing the fight - is that Mystogan here is especially determined not to screw things up for Jellal and Erza. I don't really want to be messing around with mistaken identities and such right as their relationship enters its most critical moment._

 _Anyway, I'm hugely grateful for all the great responses to last week's chapter, and thank you for your continued readership and support! ~CS_


	25. Erza Shines

**Kidnapping Erza**

By CrimsonStarbird

* * *

 **Chapter Twenty-Five: Erza Shines**

 _Someone's certainly had a good go at taking out Laxus,_ Erza observed, as she hurried through the cathedral's ruined vestibule. To say it looked as though an earthquake had hit it would have been an insult to those architects of old – Kardia Cathedral had endured just fine through centuries of the tremors that hit Fiore every once in a while. No, only a member of Fairy Tail could have done this much damage to a national heritage site. And though Erza didn't know who it had been, the sight gave her hope. Her guild was still fighting.

"LAXUS!" she roared, a defiant challenge, as she charged into what remained of the cathedral's great nave – only to stop in her tracks.

The enemy in question had his back to her. It wasn't that he hadn't noticed her arrival, but that he considered it of little importance. He kept studying the runes floating in front of him as if nothing had happened. Though not even he could read most of them, two things jumped out: the large, eye-catching number '298', and, just below it, a timer counting down the last few minutes until Thunder Palace's detonation.

"What is that old fool playing at?" Laxus snarled under his breath. "How can he be this stubborn, with so many lives at stake?"

Unhappy, he turned at last to face Erza. At least a battle would help pass the time.

But fighting seemed to be the last thing on Erza's mind. She was staring at a point over Laxus's shoulder: the altar of the once-grand cathedral, where, just for a moment, she thought she had glimpsed the last person she wanted to see; a person whose mere existence brought back all the memories she had been trying to suppress for the sake of the Battle of Fairy Tail.

 _You're imagining things,_ she told herself fiercely; a cold strike of logic breaking through the turbulence picking up once more within her mind. _He isn't here._

The hand which held her sword trembled.

 _He's probably halfway back to Era right now._

Her vision was strangely misty.

 _I hope he stays there. He doesn't belong in this guild. I never want to see him-_

Pain exploded through her entire body. Caught unprepared, she screamed out loud. Shivers of lightning wormed their way through her armour and down to the ground as she fought to stay upright.

Laxus slowly lowered his arm, sparks still buzzing around his fingertips. "You're not paying me the least bit of attention, are you?" he marvelled. "First the old man, and now you… well, you'll both realize your mistakes soon enough."

The pain of that attack had helped ground Erza back in reality. She gave her head a vigorous shake, sending her scarlet hair fanning out. Sunlight from the enormous hole in the roof glinted upon her raised blade. "I'm going to beat you and stop Thunder Palace, Laxus," she vowed.

"Mystogan said much the same thing," the lightning mage smirked, perfectly at ease. "It didn't get him far, did it?"

 _See?_ Some dazed part of Erza's mind spoke up. _It wasn't Jellal he was fighting. It was Mystogan. Stop overthinking this, and focus on the task at hand-!_

That thought came as a reprimand rather than a warning, for Laxus was already moving. Panic set in – a panic that she had not known since she had become a proud S-Class mage of her guild. She felt like a child again, scared and lost and alone, as eight years of experience fled her mind and all she could think about was Jellal-

 _Lightning Empress, Lightning Empress,_ she told herself furiously.

She pulled off the Requip in time, but it would have been better if she hadn't. Laxus had anticipated her automatic reaction; eschewing his magic completely, he delivered a powerful uppercut straight to her chin. Cloth enchanted to absorb electricity offered no protection against a physical blow. Darkness swam in her vision as the floor dropped away beneath her and the world inverted on its axis-

A vision of falling from an airship flashed before her eyes. She remembered the friends who had come to save her on that day; who had given her so much support when she was struggling to come to terms with her feelings for Jellal; who she knew in her heart would be even more supportive when they heard what had happened between her and him today.

Screw Jellal and his selfishness. As long as she had her guild, she would be able to move on. But if Laxus was allowed to destroy her beloved Fairy Tail, she would never be able to forgive herself.

Her resolve kickstarted in mid-air. Her feet found purchase on a broken pillar; it toppled to the ground as she launched herself straight back at Laxus, Requipping as she did so. Flight Armour, her greatest speed-enhancing armour, took shape around her. He hadn't been expecting so impressive a recovery from her, nor so quick a reaction. Her flashing blade drew a line of blood from his upper arm.

Nor was she about to stop there. Still she had no need for the floor – this time, she kicked off from the enormous organ pipes and shot back towards her opponent. She Requipped once again: Purgatory Armour, all black metal and wicked spikes. There was a mighty two-handed mace in her hands, and she brought it sweeping down towards Laxus.

Anger blazed in his eyes. He caught the weapon between sparking palms, rotated like a hammer thrower, and released it, sending her hurtling through another pillar. Erza let the mace vanish once more in order to prioritize rolling back to her feet.

She was fast, but Laxus was faster. He had already gathered the energy needed to follow up that strike; a deadly lance of lightning pointing towards her heart-

"Laxus, fight meeeee!" a voice called from the rafters.

Laxus was not the kind to succumb to obvious distractions in battle, but he, like Jellal, had long since come to understand the danger of that shout. Natsu never took no for an answer, even in the middle of a crisis: Laxus barely had the chance to look up before the boy's blazing foot crashed into his shoulder, throwing his aim right off. The lightning lance missed Erza and put an end to the heroic last stand of the cathedral's final stained glass window instead.

Irritated, Laxus lashed out at Natsu like he might swat a fly, but Natsu was nimbler than he had been given credit for. He ducked under it and headbutted Laxus in the stomach. An explosion of flames flung the combatants apart; Natsu took the chance to back off a few paces and take up a fighting stance next to Erza, who was back on her feet with a sword in each hand.

"Erza," Natsu said urgently. "We've gotta stop Thunder Palace. I ran into Levy on the way here and she said something about fireworks and a biplane, but I don't think she'll make it in time. There are still nearly three hundred of those things left."

They glanced back at the runes still floating in front of a wall that had long since been demolished. It finally clicked in Erza's mind that the '298' was the number of lightning lacrima remaining: the original three hundred, minus the one Bisca had shot down, and the one that – unbeknownst to Erza – Juvia had destroyed. Even worse, the timer below read a mere four minutes and fifty-two seconds.

She glanced at Laxus, who seemed no worse for wear despite the beating he had already taken. Even if she and Natsu could defeat him, could they do it within the time limit? Not a chance.

But wasn't taking out Thunder Palace an equally impossible task? Two hundred and ninety-eight lacrima, and merely destroying one was dicing with death. Taking that gamble so many times, with her chance of survival reducing each second as she grew weaker and weaker from the recoil… It wasn't the thought of death that worried her, but the knowledge that it would come far, far too soon. Not even the strongest mage in the guild could destroy more than a handful of lacrima before the damage stopped them from trying – by physical incapacitation if not by death.

Laxus had designed his plan well. Even if she were willing to give up her life for it, she still couldn't destroy them all.

 _No,_ Erza thought numbly. _That's not quite right. There's one strategy Laxus hasn't anticipated._

Laxus's plan assumed that they would try to destroy the lacrima one by one. That was the safest way – odds were, the damage would knock them out just before they reached their limit, like it had done to Bisca, and thus no one person would destroy enough lacrima to push them over the edge. But if she viewed her life as expendable from the start…

As she realized what she should have known from the moment she heard about Thunder Palace, a strange kind of calmness settled over her.

It _was_ possible to save the guild. And she was the only one who could do it.

"I agree," Erza said. "Leave it to me, Natsu."

"You're going to take down my Thunder Palace?" Laxus jeered. "Impossible!"

"It's not impossible. I will destroy every one of your lacrima myself."

"No, you won't. Most people will fall unconscious from the recoil of just one Organic Link lacrima. Even you, Erza, will be out before you can hit your fifth."

She just smiled at him. "Then I will simply destroy all of them simultaneously."

"You'd take three hundred times the damage all at once! No one can survive that!"

"Yes," she said. "But everyone else will be safe."

For a moment, Laxus's smirk seemed to slip. "…Nice try," he said, forcing another laugh. "That noble self-sacrifice is no less than I'd expect from you, Erza. But I know for a fact that you _can't_ destroy them all at once. That little extradimensional armoury of yours doesn't contain three hundred weapons."

Laxus was right, of course. Before he had become alienated from the rest of the guild, he and Erza had occasionally trained together as fellow S-Class Mages; he knew more about her fighting style than anyone else in the guild, save perhaps for her teammates Natsu and Gray. She only had around two hundred weapons.

But she also knew something Laxus didn't. He had his back to the timer, but she could see it clearly. The number above it now read '297'. Even as she watched, it clicked down again to '296'. It was a message from her guild: _we are still fighting._

How they were doing it, when most of them had already been defeated in the Battle of Fairy Tail, Erza had no idea. But she knew, with absolute certainty, that her guild would make up the deficit. Two hundred blades would be enough.

Laxus was bragging, "My Thunder Palace isn't coming down until the old man gives in and lets me be Master!"

"The Master will never give in to you," Erza told him calmly. "And neither will we. Natsu! I can count on you, can't I?"

"Absolutely," Natsu grinned.

That promise was enough for her. Sheathing her blades, she turned her back on her opponent and ran for the exit.

Her confidence unnerved Laxus. He wasn't prepared to let her escape – yet he hadn't taken more than one step after her before Natsu was upon him, a storm of fists and wildfire, forcing Laxus on the defensive. The sounds of furious battle picked up behind her and then faded just as quickly, as Erza ran on and didn't look back.

Natsu would keep Laxus contained. Everything else was up to her.

* * *

Erza came to a halt in the street outside, struck by the sudden calmness. There was no one else in sight. The lacrima above were silent and still. They gave no sign of the devastation they would unleash in four minutes and counting.

Taking a deep breath, Erza Requipped her Heaven's Wheel Armour and looked steadily towards the sky. Now that she was alone, the weight of what she was about to do hit all at once. Whether or not she managed to save the city, she was going to die.

She didn't want to die. Not now; not when things were just starting to change for her… but she wanted the townsfolk and her friends in the guild to die even less.

And when it came down to it, she had always thought she would die like this: a heroic death; a redemption, even, saving everyone that she loved.

Ten blades. Twenty. Thirty. Her power had barely dipped at all. She had used more weapons than this when fighting Evergreen. Forty. Fifty. Easy.

Over the last few weeks, she had been so happy. She had made peace with herself; laid the ghosts of her past to rest. She had become so much closer to her friends in the guild than before. Yes, it would have been nice if she'd been able to work things out with Jellal too, but some things just weren't meant to be. Perhaps it was better this way. If she were angry with him, it meant she did not have to be sad about leaving him behind.

One hundred blades. That was the limit of her ordinary swords, but she was by no means out of weapons yet. Daggers, axes, spears, maces, tridents – she was proficient in all of them, though she used them only rarely, and when she was out of those too, she would summon the unique weapons specially designed to go with each of her armours.

Up in the sky, she could see a definite gap in the ring of lacrima. At the rate it was progressing, the others wouldn't have time to destroy all of them, but they were making a significant dent in the amount of work she had to do. The sight strengthened her resolve. They may have been separated in space, but that did not stop them from fighting together; from supporting her without even needing to be asked. Yes, this was the Fairy Tail that she loved.

She had lost count of how many blades were surrounding her. She would keep calling them until she had no more. She was tired, yes, but exhaustion was nothing against her resolve.

It was her duty to protect her guild in any way possible, but she wasn't doing it just because of that.

Eight years ago, she hadn't been able to save anyone. She had run away from the Tower of Heaven, and spent every day since regretting it. Now, at long last, she had a chance to put things right. This was what she wanted. She would gladly give up her life if it meant that everyone she loved would live.

So she smiled up at the sky with its crown of lacrima, and she was not sad, because this was a good ending for her.

* * *

There was one person for whom this was not a good ending.

One person who could not accept the exchange she so gladly embraced, for she meant more to him than the lives of everyone in the guild and the city put together.

One person whose voice could cut through her concentration; whose words could cause her resolve, just for a moment, to waver.

And Jellal said to her, "Erza, you can't do this."

* * *

What Jellal had been expecting to find at Kardia Cathedral, he didn't know.

Perhaps he had thought he would encounter Laxus here. When he had seen the great magic circles in the sky above the cathedral he had headed there at once, for surely magic of that strength would only have been called in some devastating final battle. Yet Thunder Palace's persistence implied that something hadn't quite gone to plan; that Laxus hadn't been beaten and this wasn't yet over. Maybe he had come here to find out what had happened; to join in the fight.

Perhaps he had been expecting to find Erza here: Erza, still furious at him for what he had done; Erza, ordering him to put aside their differences and work together to save their guild; or even Erza, forgiving him because he had not fled the battle after all, for that was just what she was like.

Yes, that was probably it. He had been expecting to meet Erza. He had been expecting to be roped into helping Fairy Tail one last time.

But not this.

Never this.

"Erza, you can't do this."

He spoke those words without thinking. He had not announced his presence, nor greeted her; he saw her flinch at the sound of his voice. Time had stopped. Her shroud of weapons, which every steady heartbeat of hers had summoned, ceased to grow, as one, two, three seconds went by in the outside world and did not go by for them.

Jellal took one slow step towards Erza, and then another, skirting around the halo of steel and death until he was standing within her line of sight. Her gaze remained fixed on a point somewhere over his shoulder. The perfect stillness of the swords held aloft by her power only emphasized the trembling of her body, brought on by the arrival of the one person she did not know how to deal with.

Yet it was nothing compared to the fear pounding within his own head, making rational thought impossible: the fear that came from possessing something so fragile; something over which he had no control.

"Erza," he repeated, lost and bewildered, and his hands were raised in surrender, as if he were the target of those blades. "You can't do this."

She looked at him and smiled, for rather than convincing her, the absolute truth he had given to her had simply been turned away. "I can," she told him softly. "And I will."

"But…"

He blinked once, twice; unable to comprehend why she was talking like that. Maybe she wasn't aware that Thunder Palace was protected by Organic Link magic. Maybe she mistakenly thought that using telekinetic blades would stop the link from forming. Maybe she believed that Organic Link would only inflict pain, and would not kill.

She wouldn't be acting like this if she knew it was going to kill her. She _wouldn't_.

So he said to her, to make things clear, "If you destroy that many lacrima at once, you'll die."

Yet the soft smile upon her lips did not change. "I know. But it is the only way to save my guild and my city, so that is what I am going to do."

No.

No, Erza, don't.

He took a step forwards. What action lay at the end of the path he was setting foot upon he did not know; he was simply acting upon the impulse that had gripped him. But Erza knew what he was going to do. She had gleaned it from the lost look in his eyes, that rash denial, and he had not taken more than that single step when a blade flashed into existence, its tip an inch away from his heart.

"Don't come any closer," she ordered him.

Jellal tried to turn the sword away, but it would not budge. Blood began to drip from his palm. The reality of that pain brought home the reality of this situation, and the impossibility of reaching her like this.

He took a deep breath. He forced himself to focus; to push away that terrifying sense that he was standing on the edge of a precipice, where a single wrong move would mean far worse than mere death.

"Erza," he said, and his voice was stronger than before, and saner. "You have to stop this."

"It's the only way," she reiterated.

"No, it isn't." He pointed towards the sky, to the slowly growing gap in the lacrima's snare. "We know how to destroy them without anyone getting hurt. Levy, Gray and I came up with a plan. Look, Erza – they're doing it right now, your guild; they're fighting so that you don't have to die. There is no need for you to throw your life away like this."

"So you were helping," she murmured. "I did wonder why you had come back, and I hoped… I'm glad." She smiled again, so heartbreakingly beautiful. "Thank you. But the guild can't destroy all the lacrima. There simply isn't time."

"I know they're not moving very quickly at the moment," Jellal argued, feeling his heartbeat pick up again for all the wrong reasons. "But they're just getting started. I'm sure they are. As soon as Levy makes it back with the plane, they'll take down the rest in no time at all. They can do this without you, Erza!"

"Even if Levy arrived right this instant, she still would not be able to destroy all the lacrima. I know you know this too, Jellal. I can see it in your eyes."

She was right; of course she was right. His worry had been mounting with every passing minute. Levy's journey was simply too long, even for a motorbike; the Rune Knights too uncooperative, too distrustful of guild mages. He should have gone himself. He shouldn't have listened to Levy. He shouldn't have come to find Erza.

Jellal clenched his fist, feeling the blood of the cut bubbling between his fingers. Still, he tried, "You're the one always telling me to believe in this guild – so why can't you, right now? They'll make it in time, Erza, I know they will!"

A gentle shake of her head, as if to a child. "Don't lie to me, Jellal. Not now. I am grateful for what you have done – you and the guild have made saving the city possible. Now, my blades and I are going to finish the job."

"No, Erza! You can't do something like this-"

"Can't I? So it's perfectly acceptable for you to bait a murderous Jose while completely defenceless, but I'm not allowed to offer up my own life in battle?"

"That's different!" Jellal protested, desperation rising in response to her argument. "I never intended to die on that day! I knew there was a chance that Makarov would arrive in time, and I gambled everything on that! But if you do this, Erza, you _cannot_ be saved! There is no magical loophole that can prevent the damage; trust me, I _know_ these things! All the determination in the world can't bend the laws of magic! Even if your resolve could somehow miraculously push you to survive the recoil from twenty lacrima, you're facing ten times that here! If you destroy those lacrima, _you will die!_ "

"Then so be it," she said, for he told her nothing she didn't already know. "I have already made my choice, Jellal. Please, understand that."

She looked at him, and he looked at her, and if there was a part of him that did understand, it was drowned out by the thunderstorm of emotion that rejected her decision with every fibre of his being. "No," he said coldly. "Do you really think I'm just going to stand here and watch you die?"

"Then leave. Leave Magnolia, or go and help Levy and the others, or… or fight Laxus alongside Natsu. I know you do care, deep down. I know I can rely on you to protect the guild in my place."

"I won't." Something sparked in Jellal's eyes: no longer fear, but anger, reacting to her stubbornness. "You're not going to die here. I won't let you."

A shimmer of light at his palm was the only indication of his intentions. He seized hold of the blade targeting his heart, wrenched it from her control, and hurled it aside. And he was already running towards her-

Again, he got no further than a single step. Erza made a slight gesture and every single weapon was suddenly pointing directly at him, blade's edge or spear's point or axe's head.

"That isn't your decision to make," she said.

They regarded each other again in the silence. One wrong move and she would skewer him.

She would not be stopped by force. She would not be stopped by reason. She had chosen her path.

Somewhere, in a faraway universe, a timer entered the last two minutes of its countdown.

"No," Jellal told her.

This wasn't right.

Erza belonged to him. From the moment they had met in the Tower to the day she had not come for him, and he had given up on her; from his decision to let her escape, through all the years he had spent watching her from afar, to the day he was reunited with her here – _he_ was the one around whom her world and her decisions and her memories revolved. Not this city, and certainly not this stupid guild. _Him_.

He was, and always had been, the only one who was allowed to take her life.

"It _is_ my decision."

So if he decided he wasn't going to kill her, then she was not allowed to die.

"Because you are my…"

 _Sacrifice?_

Had he really, _really,_ been about to say that? After everything that had happened, did he really want her to live through this day just so that he could kidnap and kill her himself?

"…mine," he finished numbly. "Because I want you to be mine."

"Jellal…?" she wondered.

"You have to come back with me, Erza. You and I, we're supposed to be together. A world in which I live and you do not has no meaning. What has it all been for, these past eight years, if you die as soon as I… as I finally reach you…?"

A clammy hand had closed around his throat; he continued without breath. "You have to come back with me," he repeated, with twice as much feeling. "You're the only thing that matters. You can't die, because you have to stay with me."

It was only then that Jellal realized he had been staring at her feet while he spoke, fists clenched nervously, heart hammering, and he finally looked up to meet her gaze – and some distant part of him registered a vague surprise.

There were tears in her eyes. Her lower lip trembled. After what seemed like an age, she spoke.

"Jellal, I…" Erza began, swallowed, and started again. "I would give anything to be able to respond to your feelings. Any other time, any other place… and I would have been so happy to hear those words. But…"

She wanted to look away, but her conviction overruled her shyness, and her words were steady and strong. "I'm sorry, but I can't be with you like that. I love you, Jellal, I really do, but I don't belong to you. It isn't up to you what I do with my life. I am going to save my guild, and no one has the right to tell me I can't, not even you."

Jellal stared at her and could not speak. She smiled; she understood. "I want to go back with you more than I can say," she admitted. "But I want to protect my guild even more. This is my decision."

Raising one gauntleted hand, she tried to wipe away the tears glittering upon her cheeks. "Ah, I wish you hadn't come back. I was content before, and now… now I feel as though I'm leaving so much unfinished. Jellal, if I can ask one thing of you… please, stay in Fairy Tail. I know it might take a while, but I truly believe you'll be able to be happy here again, in time. You have friends here who will care about you even when I am gone."

She closed her eyes and smiled for him, one final time. "Goodbye, Jellal."

Ten seconds to go, and ten seconds would be enough to save her guild. She raised her arms towards the sky. Two hundred weapons soared out in all directions, shooting stars in reverse; signs of salvation for most and death for one alone.

And Erza faced her death with a smile, because, in dying to protect everything that she loved, she had no regrets.

With the storm of blades no longer threatening him, Jellal was free to move – for all the good it would do him now. He could not stop her. She was about to die and he could do nothing, paralyzed not by magic or by fear, but by her words.

There were tears in his eyes and he did not know how they had got there, for they and the cold bite in the back of his throat were new sensations for him. She was so beautiful in that moment. So pure; so brilliant; a goddess with the power and the will to save everyone.

He looked at her and he understood just how wrong he had been.

Erza belonged only to herself. Not to him, not even to Fairy Tail. Those she met could guide her, but they could not dictate her thoughts; her feelings; her choices. Not even he, who was more important to her than any other human being, had that right. Befriending him, forgiving him, loving him – her choices had always been her own. In a world where he had never been born, Erza would still be Erza, graceful and kind and shining brighter than anyone in the long, cold night.

 _I was a fool to ever think I had the right to sacrifice her._

A single tear ran down his cheek. He might even have smiled.

And a sudden thought struck him.

 _I don't want to live in a world without her._

He had said it earlier, but earlier he had still been clinging to the hope that such a world would never come to pass, and only now, as it became his reality, did he realize just how much he had meant it.

In that moment, just as she had made her choice, he made his. It was a spur-of-the-moment decision, and like all spur-of-the-moment decisions, it was irrational and passionate and truer than any decision he had made in his life.

 _We'll die together._

He didn't recall moving. All he knew was that he was there and she was there, together, and he kissed her as the world ended. She understood, and so did he. In the last few seconds of their lives, she drew him closer and kissed him back, warm and gentle and fierce all at once.

She was everything, she was _everything,_ the whole universe and more. Their thoughts were one, their desires aligned, their dreams shared; their magic connected and came alive, bathing them and all two hundred blades in glorious red and gold. They would protect their guild together. They would share the recoil from the lacrima. And together, they would die.

Explosions filled the sky. Shards of broken lacrima glittered like confetti in the sunlight. There was shouting, and yet it wasn't in pain and fear, but in awe. Someone had set off a whole load of fireworks, and the resulting blaze painted the city in every colour imaginable. They filled the world with the sound of celebration: a festival of victory with him and Erza together at its very heart. It was the perfect moment.

 _Alright,_ Jellal thought. _I'm happy. I can die now._

But they did not die.

They were still there, the two of them, holding each other and waiting for the pain to hit, but time passed and still it didn't. The sound of the world ending faded to a distant ringing in their ears. The last of the fireworks burned out; their glorious surroundings returned to their normal sunlit state.

Granted, there had been some irregularities in the passing of time over the last few minutes, but even so, Jellal thought that dragging out ten seconds this much was pushing it a bit.

Clearly Erza thought so too, because she took a step away from him and glanced towards the sky, confirming that all the lacrima had been destroyed. "Are you hurt?" she asked him, and he shook his head numbly. "No, me neither. I don't understand."

"We destroyed them together," he murmured. "Even sharing the effects, we should be…" Then his eyes widened, and he exclaimed, "Unison Raid! It's just like Levy said! Our combined power confused the lacrima, so the Organic Link was never established!"

"We survived…" Erza breathed. "We really did… we're both alive…"

They both seemed to realize the implications of that statement at the same time.

The intense moment was gone. The world was back to normal. But there was one thing that had changed forever, and all of a sudden, they could no longer meet each other's eyes. Erza had suddenly become very interested in a flock of birds. Jellal was staring at the cathedral door with such intensity that one would have been forgiven for thinking he could see straight through it to Laxus and Natsu's fight.

Both were red-faced, and very, _very,_ embarrassed.

* * *

 _ **A/N:** Twenty-five chapters, twenty-five weeks, all leading up to that one scene. I hope it was worth it. Short chapter, but this is the right place to stop I think. Tune in again next week as I attempt to keep the final battle against Laxus to a similarly sensible length (spoilers: I fail). Thanks for reading as always, and I hope you enjoyed the chapter! ~CS_


	26. Final Dance

**Kidnapping Erza**

By CrimsonStarbird

* * *

 **C** **hapter Twenty-Six: Final Dance**

"Ah," said Erza.

"Umm," said Jellal.

Neither of them could quite bring themselves to look at the other. This was unfamiliar and unexpected territory for them both, and in the sudden awkwardness, neither had a clue how to break the silence.

Still, they would have put good money on the appropriate thing to say in this situation _not_ being a shout of, "LOOK OUT BELOW!"

Yet that was exactly what freed them from the moment. Ten extended seconds of being serious was clearly too much for Fairy Tail, so it was reacting by transforming their street into an airport runway.

 _This guild…_ Jellal thought, despairingly. _Remind me why I was helping them, again?_

Fortunately, Erza took this new development in her stride. She seized his hand and pulled him out of the way as a biplane thundered along the street.

The plane's lowered wheels touched the cobblestones and bounced straight off; its pilot wrestled with the controls and the wheels skidded along the ground once more. Or, rather, _one_ of the wheels did, as the plane listed alarmingly. The left wing scraped along the road, throwing up a shower of sparks. There was an almighty bang and the plane righted itself, tripped, skidded, spun a full ten-eighty degrees, and finally ground to a halt inches away from the house at the end of the street. The propeller spluttered and died.

The pilot removed her flight helmet and shook out her sky-blue hair. "And Mira made it look so easy," Levy lamented.

She vaulted out of the plane and trotted over to Jellal and Erza, both of whom were too stunned to speak – or, apparently, to let go of each other's hand. "Oh, I see you two made up, then," she remarked, with a wonderful smile.

"I… guess?" tried Jellal, who was still struggling to process what it meant that he and Erza had survived.

"We did," Erza agreed. "We were able to destroy the remaining lacrima together, and we're both unharmed. Thank you for mobilizing the guild, Levy. We couldn't have done it without your help."

Her words bore genuine gratitude, but Levy's buoyant mood seemed to sink at once. "Yeah… I'm sorry about that. The plane is a lot harder to fly than it looks. I'm not quite sure how Mira managed it. Aiming the main gun while moving wasn't as easy as I thought it would be, either… I should have known there was a reason why Mira left all the fighting on that raid to us. If I'd just been a little more competent, I could have destroyed all the lacrima, and you two wouldn't have been in any danger…"

Erza shook her head, smiling. "You did just enough, Levy. We're very grateful."

"Levy, thank you," Jellal spoke up suddenly, causing both the girls to look at him in surprise. "If you hadn't spoken to me like you did, then I… Erza…" _Then Erza would have died,_ he thought, but even now that he knew it was over, he still couldn't bring himself to say those words out loud.

After a moment, she smiled up at him again. "That's alright. I know you're a good person really. You just need reminding of it every once in a while."

"True, that," Erza nodded.

"Don't agree with her!" Jellal protested, causing them to laugh.

"Oh, and I did a fly-by of the guild on my way here," Levy added. "Everyone's fine. No one came into any danger from the Organic Link curse, thanks to your suggestions. In fact, they're regrouping at the guildhall right now. Laxus has well and truly lost."

"Not yet." It was Erza who spoke, turning her solemn gaze towards Kardia Cathedral's closed doors. "The city may be safe, but the battle isn't over until Laxus himself has been defeated."

At that moment a ball of black and silver fury burst out of a back alley and into their street. It slowed to a stop, revealing itself as a humanoid figure, bent double and gasping for breath. "Where is that punk Laxus?" it snarled. "Let me at him!"

Levy blinked. "Gajeel? Where've you been? I let you and Natsu out of the guildhall ages ago!"

"It's not my fault!" the Iron Dragon Slayer roared back. "That damn ice mage roped me into setting off a load of fireworks… what the hell was that even _for?"_

"Setting the romantic mood," Levy volunteered helpfully.

"…Eh?"

"Levy!" Jellal protested, waving his hands hastily.

"Well, whatever." Gajeel cracked his knuckles. "Laxus is hiding in the cathedral, huh? It's payback time for that day in the park."

"Hang on a minute." Jellal's raised arm stopped him in his tracks. "If you're out here, does that mean Natsu has been fighting Laxus on his own this entire time?"

Silence followed this realization.

Silence, broken by a timely explosion from inside Kardia Cathedral. Something blasted through the cathedral doors, leaving a smoking Natsu-shaped hole in the wood. The poor boy landed face-first on the pavement and remained there: dazed, singed, and sporting enough bruises to make his body look like a palette for an experimental artist specializing in shades of yellow and purple.

"Natsu!" Erza cried out, running over to him.

But Jellal got there first. Rather than helping Natsu to his feet, he seized the boy by his scarf and dragged him upright, suspending him above the ground with one hand while pointing with the other to the interior of the cathedral. The _ruined_ interior of the cathedral. With its smashed stained glass windows, wrecked pillars, and notable lack of roof.

"Natsu," he began, in a voice like ice. "Explain yourself."

"Umm…"

"Kardia Cathedral is a national heritage site! A Grade I listed building! How dare you just smash it up like that? This is _far_ beyond the usual appalling standard I would expect from your guild – this is an utter lack of respect for Fiore's cultural heritage! You can't just _fix_ a centuries-old cathedral! The workmanship, the craft knowledge, the sanctified texts, the irreplaceable relics, the history entrenched within the very stones – all lost, because of you!"

"It wasn't me!" Natsu objected wildly. "It was like that when I got there, I swear!"

Struggling to suppress her smile, Erza rested her hand on Jellal's arm. "He's telling the truth. It had already been destroyed when we arrived to face Laxus."

Reluctantly, Jellal set Natsu back on his feet, eyeing the boy suspiciously all the while.

Levy gave a weary sigh. "Once a councillor, always a councillor, I suppose…"

"Regardless, there's no point worrying about the cathedral now," Erza pointed out. "What's done is done, and besides – I have a feeling that its current state is nothing compared to how it will look by the time the fight is over."

"So, what are we waiting out here for?" Natsu interjected, no less excitable for the beating he had already taken. Nothing could keep him down for long when there were strong opponents to fight. "Let's go get him!"

The Dragon Slayer took three resolute steps towards the cathedral doors. His fourth step faltered. Rather than taking a fifth, he glanced quizzically over his shoulder, as if to ask why no one was stopping him – or, really, why a certain Wizard Saint wasn't stopping him.

"Isn't this the part where you say-" Natsu began, drawing himself up to his full height and assuming the most disdainful tone he could manage, " _You fools should all just stay out here. I could take Laxus on my own, and you'd only get in the way…_ or something?"

"I _could_ take Laxus on my own!" Jellal retorted. "But… that doesn't mean I _should_. It's your guild he declared war against. It ought to be you… to be Fairy Tail… that puts him in his place."

"That includes you too, doesn't it?" Natsu pointed out. "As long as this battle doesn't drag on past midnight, you have as much right to participate as the rest of us."

Levy added, "Even more so, in fact. Wasn't it you and Gajeel joining the guild – a member of the Council and a former enemy of ours – that pushed Laxus over the edge and triggered his takeover bid in the first place?"

Natsu nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, so stop trying to be considerate; it's weird. Being nice doesn't suit you."

Jellal shifted uncomfortably. "Well… Even so, we shouldn't all just rush in there without a plan. First, we need to-" He blinked, glanced left and right, and then frowned. "Where's Erza?"

Levy pointed to the cathedral doors, which were swinging back and forth about their place of rest. "I do believe she got bored and just rushed in there without a plan."

"…Oh, _fine_ ," Jellal sighed. "Let's all just charge in. It wouldn't be much of a Fairy Tail finale if we actually stopped and thought things through, now, would it?"

* * *

"It's over, Laxus," Erza declared, with a judge's solemnity. "Your allies have been defeated, and not a single member of Fairy Tail has fallen. The Master will not surrender. If you turn yourself in now, I am sure that he and the guild will be merciful."

Laxus stood at the heart of the ruined cathedral hall, a silent ghost amidst the sunbeams and the dust. A small, sad smile touched Erza's face, and she bowed her head. "Yet, I appreciate that that is not an option for you. You have come too far, and sacrificed too much, to back down now. The only way out for you is to be defeated."

Into her hands she Requipped one of her two hundred weapons: a greatsword, silver and gold, with a sparkling sapphire set into its pommel. She raised it as a knight of old might have raised Excalibur; a gesture of respect and of challenge.

"Have no fear," she told him. "I will grant you that defeat."

Her opponent laughed. "You have no right to speak so condescendingly to me." A mad, harsh sneer. "You've already lost to me once today."

"Yes." Erza accepted this with a sincere nod. "I was conflicted within myself. I believed I had been forced to choose between the guild I loved and the man I loved, and that made my blade unsteady. But… I was mistaken. He's here too, fighting for our guild alongside me." With a warm smile, she met Laxus's gaze once more. "By fighting you when I was not at my best, I showed you great disrespect, and I apologize for that. Now, I no longer have any doubts. I am ready to put everything I have up against you. So, come at me, Laxus!"

This final sentence rose to a shout, and Laxus did not need to hear it twice.

He hurtled through the ruins with a wordless roar. She parried his strike with the flat of her blade, stepping back to absorb the impact. Their eyes met above the deadlock, his desperate anger and her calm resolution, each seeking some sign of the other's next move, while the debris that their collision had thrown into the air rained down all around them.

Seizing the initiative, Laxus aimed a kick at her; she shifted her grip, Requipped a second blade – the glowing red steel of her Flame Empress Armour – and blocked the blow with that. In the wake of the shattered stalemate, her swords became a blur of silver and crimson. She was as comfortable dual-wielding those great blades as she was with a knife and fork. Despite Laxus's insane physical strength, she was his equal in hand-to-hand combat – and more, as she began to push him back.

His frustration took form as a bitter snarl. Erza's next strike cleaved through empty air as Laxus's physical body became a streak of lightning, breaking out of the melee in the blink of an eye. It was a smart move, but he had backed down nonetheless; the mental advantage was Erza's. Calmly, she cast aside her king's blade and grasped the Flame Empress's one in both hands, completing the Requip into that resplendent red armour.

Physical attacks could not hurt Laxus in that form, but elemental ones could, and Erza's strength was in her versatility. Fire and lightning met in an almighty explosion. It was a good job that there was little left within the cathedral's walls to destroy.

Erza's armour protected her from the worst of the explosion, and she sprung easily away. Laxus shot skywards, and for a moment, she thought she had managed to drive him off again – but he was merely gathering height. He flashed back down towards her, returning to his physical form to take full advantage of gravity's pull. His hands, clasped together high above his head, became the core of a blazing lightning hammer.

Too experienced to have lowered her guard in that moment of false victory, Erza was ready for him. Her Adamantine Armour materialized around her right before impact. Though it was still damaged from the beating it had taken during the airship raid, her power flowed strong within it, and Laxus's tremendous blow was absorbed entirely by its pair of shields.

Nor was this a sign that Erza had been forced onto the defensive. Before Laxus's feet had even hit the ground, she made a slight gesture with her fingers, and the blade she had discarded earlier shot towards Laxus from behind. Only his preternatural instincts saved him from being impaled; instead, the sword struck a glancing blow to his side as he jumped away.

Letting her shields vanish, Erza returned to her normal armour. The constant Requipping may have been an added drain on her magic, but that was something she had to spare, and it was worth it to keep her strategies hidden for that extra few seconds. She bent down to pick up her sword, resuming the same knight's stance she had adopted at the start of the battle.

It was a declaration: _we've clashed, and I am still unharmed._

Laxus understood perfectly. Electricity began to crackle all over his body; an aura of energy hung around him like a thundercloud. Erza switched immediately to her Lightning Empress Armour. Up against that level of power, she couldn't risk using anything less than the armour designed to absorb lightning magic. No sooner had the transformation finished than she was upon him, driving the spearhead towards his lower abdomen.

Laxus slammed his fist down atop the spear's shaft, knocking it off course. Her armour absorbed the electricity that ran along the weapon from his fist without harm, however, and she had been anticipating such a reaction. With an extra burst of speed, she lunged forwards, spinning the low spear around and aiming to trip him instead.

The blow connected, but an impromptu strike could not shift Laxus's weight. Nor was it enough to stop him from kicking her in the stomach before her dive carried her out of range. Although the armour's enchantments neutralized the magic surging around his foot, the physical force sent her flying through the air.

She recovered with an ease that Happy would have envied, landing safely on her feet, but Laxus was already following up with a barrage of ball lightning. The first, she blocked with the spear's shaft. The second, she managed to reflect back at him, but he sidestepped it easily. The third, she absorbed into the spearhead and shot back towards him as a blue-tinged bolt he could not so readily avoid, but at the cost of being hit by the fourth, which carried enough power this time to pierce through her armour's magic and shock her nerves with pain.

Makarov always used to teach them that when two mages with the same type of magic clashed, the heart of each combatant would determine the victor. And while Erza had always accepted his wisdom, she had a sneaking suspicion that experience, volume of magic power, and sheer brute strength played more than a small role in breaking the stand-off. When it came to lightning magic, Laxus outclassed her in all three areas. Her magical attacks couldn't touch a master like him, whereas his strikes would break through her armour's resistance, given enough time.

Her biggest advantage lay in her close-quarters combat skill, so she rushed him again. Her spear struck like a viper, over and over, denying him any chance of invoking that dangerous level of power once more – though he hardly needed to, when he was capable of blocking her weapon with his forearms alone.

Even as she realized she wasn't making any progress, Laxus batted her spear aside and lunged in with his free hand. Abandoning her weapon, Erza spun around. Her long plait of hair whipped out, and the braid at the end – a heavy blue crystal, courtesy of her Lightning Empress Armour – smacked straight into Laxus's temple. There was a small explosion of sparks; he stumbled and she seized the chance to put some distance between them.

She exerted her will and the spear flew back into her hand, but it was a token gesture by this point. Perhaps it was just her imagination, but she could have sworn that the tip of her spear was having difficulty piercing Laxus's skin. No one should be that strong, or that resilient… not unless there was some hidden magic enhancing his physical body. If the rumours about him were true, this fight could be a lot harder than she'd thought.

This situation wasn't good. She didn't have enough offensive power to beat Laxus in this armour – and yet if she switched to anything else, it would leave her wide open to his devastating attacks.

Laxus knew that too. It was why he was even now allowing her to catch her breath: the reprieve might strengthen her physically, but the blow to her morale as she came to understand what he had known intuitively more than compensated.

"Such tenacity," Laxus smirked. "But then, I'd expect no less from you, Erza. I acknowledge your potential as a mage, but you still have a long way to go before you can come close to me."

"This isn't over yet, Laxus!"

He laughed. "Yes, it is. You think your versatility is your strength, but it is also your greatest weakness. You can use many kinds of magic, but you have mastered none. I, however, have taken lightning magic to its ultimate level, and your borrowed lightning cannot hope to compete. For all your great range of armours, you do not have a single one in which you can surpass me. You cannot beat me, Erza."

Erza's grip on her spear tightened. If this was allowed to continue, he would become more and more confident, and her chance of landing a blow would shrink every second. Locked into this mindset, there could only be one outcome.

So she simply had to break out. She had to do something he wasn't expecting; something that would alter the fight enough to nullify her opponent's mental advantage.

"You're right about Requip, Laxus," Erza told him calmly. "I can't beat you if I rely on my armours alone. But, the thing is… I don't have to. I've never told anyone this before, but Requip isn't the natural form my magic takes."

He blinked in confusion. "Yes, it is."

"It isn't. You see, I didn't grow up surrounded by mages, like you did. I was never taught about magic. Long before I obtained my first magical armour, long before I had even _heard_ of Requip, my magic awoke within me of its own accord, when my friend and mentor was murdered before my eyes. I picked up the weapons around me with my mind, and flung them at my oppressors."

"Your telekinesis?" Laxus frowned, curious despite himself.

She gave a slow nod. "But I hated using it," she confessed. "Every time I did, I was reminded of everything that happened on that day. If I'd just acquired it a minute earlier, Grandpa Rob wouldn't have had to die. And thus it became another manifestation of my fear towards the past… yet another shackle binding me to the Tower of Heaven.

"After I joined the guild, I sought out and learned Requip magic. I liked wearing armour, so that magic suited me far better, I thought. I trained with all manner of weapons until I could wield them just as well with my hands as with my innate magic. Even when I did use telekinesis in combat, it was always in conjunction with my Heaven's Wheel Armour, whose enchantments would bind the flow of the magic for me. I suppressed my natural power, along with my memories of that time."

Allowing herself a small smile, she continued, "But I'm not afraid any more. I haven't been for a while. I think that I was given this power so I wouldn't have to watch anyone else I cared about die. I didn't hesitate to use it against Thunder Palace – and it is all I need to beat you here and now."

The Lightning Empress Armour, her last line of defence against Laxus's overwhelming might, disappeared. It was replaced by her Heaven's Wheel Armour – the one whose magic was most suited to summoning and controlling a large number of swords at once. "I will not Requip my armour again until our fight is over, Laxus," Erza vowed. "I will defeat you with my blades alone."

Far more surprised than impressed, Laxus demanded, "You're losing, so you've decided to turn things around… by handicapping yourself?"

"I told you, Laxus," she said. Her move had thrown him; when it came to their mind games they were back on an even footing. "I am stronger now than you have ever seen me before."

One sword materialized in her left hand, and one in her right. "If you don't believe me, then come and see for yourself."

Fury danced in Laxus's eyes. It was her confidence that did it: that after all he had done, she did not fear him; that after how effortlessly he had fought her off so far, she still believed she could win. Electricity crackled along his arm-

But it wasn't lightning that shot towards Erza this time. It was fire. Friendly fire, one could call it, as Natsu appeared from nowhere and tried to flying-kick her from the side.

She dodged it easily, but Natsu landed and jumped straight back to his feet, satisfied that he had made his point. "Oi, Erza!" he demanded. "What do you think you're doing, rushing in here ahead of us and hogging Laxus all to yourself?"

Before she could answer, Natsu was suddenly gone as Gajeel shoved him aside and took his place. "You already had your chance," he grunted to Natsu. "Let _me_ fight him. I've gotta get revenge for when he attacked me in the park."

"Get revenge in your own time!" Natsu yelled, right in Gajeel's face.

Erza heaved a sigh. She heard more footsteps and glanced over her shoulder to see Levy approaching, who seemed equally exasperated at the Dragon Slayers' bickering. "You too, Levy?"

"Well, I don't have any suicidal desire to go one-on-one with Laxus, like those two do," the letter mage responded, with a rueful smile. "But I think I can provide support from a safe distance."

"And what about Je- about Siegrain?"

"He said he'll join in if he has to, but he doesn't particularly want to fight alongside Natsu and Gajeel at the same time," she grinned, pointing at the Dragon Slayers, who were almost at blows without any interference from Laxus. "I can't blame him. Laxus is enough to handle without having unpredictable teammates to contend with too."

Before Erza could give voice to her agreement, an inhuman roar split the air. Laxus was not happy that his opponents weren't taking this seriously. He had invested so much in the Battle of Fairy Tail that he _needed_ a proper conclusion. Erza understood this; it was why she had approached him as she did at the start of the fight.

And, despite Natsu's apparent disrespect, she knew that he understood it too. That was why he and Gajeel immediately broke off their mock battle and hurled themselves at Laxus.

For two people who argued so much, the Dragon Slayers were impressively in sync. Fists flying, feet pounding, they both engaged him in melee at the same time, fire and iron strengthening their blows without once striking each other. Laxus had his hands full just fending off both at once. And as soon as the melee had consumed his full attention-

A streak of silver burst from Erza's raised hand. The magic-propelled sword found the one tiny gap in Natsu's and Gajeel's barrage, slipped through, and cut a shallow gash in Laxus's side.

It was with something akin to amazement that Laxus looked down at the crimson streak darkening his shirt. He glanced at Erza, who Requipped another sword into her empty hand without speaking. _I told you so,_ that gesture said.

Two against one Laxus could handle, but throwing a sniper into the mix as well just wasn't fair. Time for a new approach. Stepping back, his impressive magical presence suddenly swelled to twice its usual size. Sparking energy burst out from his body in all directions, making him appear momentarily monstrous. Natsu and Gajeel were flung back by it; they hit the floor hard and remained there, as paralyzing pulses of lightning seized up their muscles.

Erza dashed forwards to cover for them. She hurled both the swords she was holding at Laxus as a distraction, and had Requipped another two by the time she was upon him. The first, a greatsword into which she poured as much raw magic as possible, cut straight through his protective aura. The second, a much smaller blade, was too short to hit him from this distance – the last thing she wanted was to form a direct pathway of metal between Laxus's blazing body and her own. Instead, a silver arc of energy launched from its swing, striking him through the gap in his guard.

Laxus let out a bellow of rage. Insanity bubbled in the whites of his eyes. That was all the warning she got before that aura of power reshaped itself into a giant halberd of lightning, heading straight towards her.

It never made contact. At the last moment, it veered to hit the tip of a pole that had appeared beside Erza. Well, she thought it was a pole, but closer inspection revealed it to be a horizontal line of metallic letters connecting to the nearest ruined pillar, spelling out the word 'LIGHTNINGROD'. Levy, who was taking shelter behind the ruined masonry, gave Erza a determined nod.

 _That was quick thinking,_ Erza thought, nodding gratefully back. There was a time when Levy would have shied away from the craziest, most dangerous events that ever afflicted the guild – and now she was not merely watching the battle against Laxus, but providing invaluable support for their team. Ever since her concern for Erza had led her to become Jellal's most vocal opponent in the guild, she had grown so much, and proven herself to be both fearless and far more capable than she herself had imagined.

And as Levy's word dissolved into sparks of magic, Erza wondered if the letter mage's creative insight could be what she was looking for. She knew that the words Levy made with Solid Script were more than mere letters given form – the concept and associations behind each word imbued it with abilities far beyond its physical properties – but the basic principle of using a conductor to redirect lightning was surely something she could use. After all, she thought of her blades as weapons, but if she viewed them instead as perfectly conducting shards… shards she could move _without touching_ … well, such a change in perspective might just give her the edge she needed against Laxus's overwhelming power.

"Erza, get back!" Natsu howled. He and Gajeel charged Laxus from either side with simultaneous breath attacks. Not wanting to be left out, Erza summoned five swords above Laxus, which she sent into the heart of the firestorm with a flick of her wrist.

"Did we get him?" Gajeel grunted. He took a step forward, but Erza's hand held him back.

A silhouette appeared amongst the flames: a man hunched over, with five blades protruding from his back. As they watched, Laxus seemed to sway on his feet. Lightning picked up in a way that no natural lightning had ever moved, racing in rings around the base of the inferno and ploughing through the half-melted debris on the floor. Then, before their eyes, the five swords impaling him disintegrated.

"No…" Levy whispered. She stared in wide-eyed horror as the inferno suddenly vanished, revealing that Laxus was completely unharmed.

No, he wasn't just unharmed – he had changed. He had always been a large man, but now his upper body muscles had swollen to abnormal proportions. Black lines traced a pattern of scales upon his skin. His canine teeth were elongated and as sharp as Erza's spears; even more pronounced than those of the Dragon Slayers. Lightning danced freely around his body, flowing through the ridges between his scales and bursting like skeletal wings from his back, constantly breaking down and reforming from electrical arcs.

"It can't be!" Natsu exclaimed. "Laxus, you're a Dragon Slayer too?"

"So the rumours are true," Erza reflected. Unlike Natsu, however, it was dread, and not excitement, that weighed down her words. The sight confirmed her earlier suspicions – that Laxus had been using a hidden power to strengthen his body's defences – although this was one of the few instances where she would have given anything to be wrong. Now, he had abandoned all secrecy for the sake of victory. This was Laxus's pseudo-Dragon Force, a state which pushed his physical strength beyond what should have been humanly possible and raised his endurance to unsurmountable levels.

Erza yelled, "Scatter!"

She and Gajeel dived aside as Laxus unleashed an almighty breath attack towards them. Natsu, who had been hoping that Laxus would explain himself, was a moment too slow, and he found himself facing down that vortex of lightning alone.

"Natsu!" Levy shouted. The word 'BOUNCY' appeared on the floor in front of him. He jumped onto it without hesitation, and the letters propelled him up and over the energy beam as if he'd hit a trampoline at full speed. In fact, he would probably have gone right through the hole where the ceiling used to be if Levy hadn't created another identical word up there for him to bounce off. Natsu launched himself back towards Laxus like a blazing meteorite; the impact bashed yet another crater into the floor.

When the smokescreen cleared, both Natsu and his target were lying on the ground. One of Erza's spears shot down from the heavens, pinning Laxus's hand to the floor as he tried to reach for Natsu. His howl of pain rose over the rumble of settling debris – and then even that was drowned out by the crack of thunder as he switched to his lightning form. He was fast, faster than the eye could see; he crossed the room in a heartbeat and shot straight through Erza's body. She cried out in agony and dropped to one knee as the aftershocks flooded her body with paralyzing pain.

Gajeel launched a breath attack straight into the lightning stream. Though it couldn't damage Laxus in that state, it had the desired effect: Laxus's target switched to him immediately. Gajeel rolled out of the way of the initial strike, leaving the lightning mage to reduce what remained of the altar to dust.

Iron scales gleamed upon Gajeel's skin as he prepared himself for the fistfight. He dodged Laxus's first punch and retaliated with a rapid-fire pummelling from the iron sword which his arm had become. Laxus met him in kind. The victor was decided after the longest three seconds of Gajeel's life, when he finally broke through and buried his sword deep into Laxus's upper arm. Blood and sparks bubbled up around the blade.

To Gajeel's dismay, however, Laxus was grinning. Electricity surged from the wound, through the perfectly conducting blade, and across the metallic scales covering his entire body: Laxus had found a way to turn Gajeel's impenetrable defence against him. Pain blazed inside the Iron Dragon Slayer's body; a searing heat trapped beneath his skin. His scales reverted back to normal, but it was already too late. By the time Laxus kicked him away triumphantly, Gajeel could no longer stand – unable to run or block as his opponent raised his hands above his hand and summoned an almighty lightning lance.

Then Natsu was there, forcing Laxus back onto the defensive. While their team had the advantage of numbers, Laxus had no chance of getting in a free hit.

Watching them, Erza felt a surge of pride. This was what their teamwork was all about. All four of them couldn't attack Laxus at once – they would simply get in each other's way. But while one or two of them continued to put pressure on their opponent, the others were watching their backs; stepping in when they were needed; offering support magic at just the right time.

And she thought it was a good thing for Laxus to see: former enemies working together to protect their guild.

Then again, she reflected, Laxus wasn't interested in learning life lessons. At the start of their fight, he had at least been sincere, but now there was very little rationality in his eyes – combat instinct, rage, and overwhelming might dominated his every action. Even worse, though they were landing solid hits on him, he simply wasn't taking any damage. The pseudo-scales upon his arms negated most of the attacks which hit, and even the cut from Gajeel's sword had already stopped bleeding.

At this rate, they might wear him down eventually, but he was throwing around advanced Lightning Dragon Slayer arts like they were nothing – a single hit would take one of them out of the fight for good. It might even kill them. Laxus, as he was now, with madness as dark as thunderclouds in his eyes, could kill his former allies; she was sure of it.

She wondered if Natsu was aware of the danger. She thought it wouldn't make a difference to his actions, even if he was. He hit Laxus with everything he had: chaining together Dragon Slayer attacks so quickly he was a red-gold streak of fire, striking with elbows and feet and head and hands, magic designed to crush scales and clip wings and overcome even a dragon's terrifying might.

And it seemed for a moment that even Laxus must succumb. The large man staggered backwards, swayed, and almost fell – but it was a feint. The moment the barrage that not even he could block eased up, his fist smashed the boy down into the floor. A vast, untamed, furious magic swirled around the two of them.

Laxus snarled, "How many times must I hit you before you stay down?"

"Laxus, NO!" Erza screamed. She was running flat-out, but it wouldn't be enough. An enormous white-gold orb of lightning crashed down upon Natsu – and then there was nothing but white.

Although she closed her eyes reflexively against the light, the sheer brilliance of it drove like needles through her eyelids. Heat washed over her; she could have sworn she heard the stone beneath her feet bubbling.

But when the explosion died away, it did not bring with it relief. No: it only made her worst fears real. Natsu was nowhere to be seen.

Laxus was laughing – a horrible sound, maniacal and cruel, like nothing Erza had ever heard from him before. "Gone!" he gloated. "Gone, with nothing left! How many more of you must I destroy before the old man gives in?"

"Honestly," Jellal reprimanded him. He landed in the centre of the room as the dust cleared, gentle golden light playing along his skin, with a perfectly unharmed Natsu held bridal-style in his arms. "I wanted no part in this fight, but if you're going to throw magic like that around, I don't really have a choice. Someone's going to die if you're allowed to keep that up."

He dumped Natsu unceremoniously onto the ground. Not that that stopped the boy from immediately jumping to his feet and glomping Jellal, crying tears of joy. "I knew you didn't hate me really!"

"…If you don't get off me this instant, you are going to wish I'd let Laxus murder you."

"Right-o."

Laxus scrutinized the newcomer through narrowed eyes as Natsu hastily backed away. "Right, then," he grunted. "Which one are you?"

"Which… one?" Jellal echoed.

"Are you the other one, this time? Or is it that, unable to accept your resounding defeat in our previous battle, you thought you'd switch your clothes and have another go?"

"Our first battle ended in a tie," Jellal pointed out. "After Makarov and Erza interrupted us before we could really get going."

"Oh, already forgotten our little fight of a few minutes ago, have you? Or were you just not wanting to bring it up in front of your friends?"

"What are you talking about? A few minutes ago, I was outside with Erza, and before that I was in the guildhall with Levy."

Both girls nodded in confirmation. The two men stared at each other, Laxus suspicious and Jellal just really confused.

"You're not the one who destroyed the cathedral roof, then?"

"I most certainly am not." Jellal sounded rather affronted by the accusation. "And I must say, there are a few choice words I would like to say to whoever did."

Impatient, Natsu interrupted, "Siegrain, what's going on?"

"I have no idea. He seems to be under the impression that we've fought already today, even though I've been nowhere near the cathedral."

"Huh. That's odd. Do you have an identical twin or something?"

Jellal considered that for a moment. "…You know, that's a really difficult question to answer."

Erza laughed. Laxus, unfortunately, did not look the least bit amused. "Well, whatever," he scowled. "I don't care who I have to destroy in order to win."

"So I've seen." With his hands in his pockets, Jellal began to pace back and forth. Laxus's eyes followed every step he took; the newcomer's confidence had knocked him down a peg. Erza remembered the battle against Jose, and couldn't help smiling. While Laxus's attention was focussed on Jellal, Levy was encouraging the injured Gajeel and Natsu to back away from the battlefield.

"Say, can I ask you something?" Jellal continued, perfectly at ease. He decided to take the hostile silence as consent. "Why are you doing all this?"

Laxus's glare intensified.

"No, I'm serious," Jellal insisted. "I missed how this whole Battle of Fairy Tail thing started, since I was…" _Trying to kidnap Erza,_ he finished in his head. _Story of my life._ "…busy doing other things. Next thing I know, you've taken hostages, attempted a massacre, and are presently taking on the guild's strongest mages in what appears to be a battle to the death. It's fairly safe to say you hate this guild more than I do, so I'm curious to know why."

Concluding that his opponent's intentions were sincere, Laxus growled an answer. "This guild used to be respected. But now? Because of that old man's leadership, Fairy Tail is a laughing stock. Other towns, other guilds – they all consider us weak and foolish, good only for destroying things. I'm going to change all that by becoming Master." His cold stare sharpened, as if challenging Jellal to pick holes in his reasoning.

To his surprise, Jellal just shrugged. "You don't like how something is being run, so you're going to take control of it and change it for the better. I can understand that. But… don't you think that ship has already sailed?"

"…What?"

"Well, I mean… you've lost all your advantages, and Makarov obviously isn't going to let you become Master after what you've done, so why are you fighting to kill? That won't get you what you want. Even if you slaughter everyone in the guild, it won't make you Master of Fairy Tail… it'll make you Master of a guild of corpses. For all of about ten minutes, before you're arrested and thrown in jail. There is no way you can win any more. Don't you think it would be better to give up while you still can?"

"You don't understand anything!" Laxus snarled. "I'm not backing down! I'm not wrong! I WILL NOT LOSE!"

The damaged cathedral walls trembled at that shout, but Jellal did not. "Now, fighting for the sake of your pride, I can understand," he frowned. "But there's nothing to be gained by striking an already-defeated opponent with enough magic to kill them. I don't think you're fighting for victory any more, or for pride. I think you're fighting because you just can't stop."

He could sense the puzzlement of the others in the room, but his gaze did not leave Laxus's, and he was satisfied to see that the lightning mage did not look confused at all. "I'm right, aren't I? This magic you're using… it's like Dragon Force, but it isn't. You're not a true Dragon Slayer, are you? There are reports on the theoretical Second Generation in the Archives, but I wasn't aware that anyone had actually managed to create one."

"What are you talking about?" Natsu demanded. "Is he a Dragon Slayer, or isn't he?"

"He doesn't use Dragon Slayer magic in the same way you and Gajeel do," Jellal answered. "He wasn't taught it. He borrows it… steals it, even, from a lacrima inside his body."

Natsu felt as though that had raised more questions than it answered, but Jellal, who didn't particularly care, had already moved on, addressing Laxus once more. "You can't control it properly, can you? In your desperation, you called forth too much of its power, and its rage is consuming you. It shouldn't be mutating your body that much, but you can't make it stop. Even now, you're shaking with the effort of holding yourself back for long enough to hear me out. Its madness has you now. It will not let you stop fighting."

"SHUT UP!" Laxus roared, but it was just the confirmation Jellal had been looking for.

"It's alright," Jellal said softly. "I don't blame you. I know that madness. I spent eight years there. And, the thing is… it's something you can only see when you're looking at it from the outside. Tomorrow, when this is all over, you'll look back and understand. But not right now. Now, we have to beat you."

Natsu interjected, "Though, we were gonna do that anyway."

"Well, _I_ wasn't," Jellal pointed out. "I had no reason to participate in this battle. I still think it would be best if the true members of Fairy Tail could defeat you without my interference. But now that I know your reason for fighting, I have my own. The first time we met in the park… to be honest, I hated you, but fighting you was really rather fun. Not this borrowed power you haven't yet learned to control, or some mad draconic rage, but _you_ ; fighting just for the hell of it. I think that was the first time I understood why Natsu kept pestering me all this time. So we're going to beat you now and put an end to this – and then one day, when it's all over, let's fight again for real, you and I."

Laxus laughed; a vicious, inhuman taunt. "I don't think so. You're not going to survive this-!" And he pounced towards Jellal like a tiger, fist blazing with energy.

Jellal did not run. He simply reached up and caught Laxus's fist in his palm. A vortex of light wrapped around his hand like a celestial gauntlet; not one of the thousand sparks bursting from the Dragon Slayer's arm touched his skin.

"Well," Jellal remarked. "You're going to have to do better than that."

He knew how Laxus was going to retaliate even before he did. The moment Laxus shifted his weight, Jellal dropped low, applied a lock to his wrist with his free hand, and rotated through a sharp half-turn – the net effect of which was to fling the larger man effortlessly over his head. Nor did he stop there. He immediately took off in pursuit, striking Laxus feet-first and driving him into the floor. They hurtled across the cathedral's nave, their erratic slide carving a path through the wreckage.

Jellal had one advantage that Erza and the others didn't. He had been observing their entire fight from one of the few intact rafters before he had been forced to intervene, and he had a good measure of Laxus's strength and the style he was likely to fall back on. He knew, for instance, that if he tried to pin Laxus, or strike him while he was down, he would automatically switch to his lightning form to escape, and then their battle would return to the stalemate that had dominated their clash in the park.

So he backed off, and sure enough, his opponent clambered back to his feet and charged him again. Jellal disliked fighting without the full speed granted to him by his magic, but it was the only way a winner would be decided. Their heated skirmish entered another purely physical round.

After the first exchange, Jellal concluded that watching such impossible strength from afar was not a good way of telling what it would be like to fight against it.

After the second exchange, Jellal was regretting how much his usual combat style focussed on mobility, and wished he had spent longer developing a contingency plan for when that mobility was compromised.

After the third exchange, Jellal was prepared to concede that engaging Laxus in a purely physical fight had been a mistake.

But that was okay. His magic was with him, if he had a little time to shape it properly. And this wasn't like the fight against Jose, where he had been handicapped from the start. He was still at almost full strength, and that meant he had the ability to take risks.

He let his guard slip, just a little, and Laxus broke through at once to send him flying. Someone cried out – but it was Erza, not him, and his concentration held. Even though the world was spinning and he couldn't breathe through the pain, he still managed to extend one hand towards the heavens. That second or two of Laxus's complacency after landing a hit would be long enough.

The resulting blaze rendered the bright blue sky invisible. Somewhere far above, something unimaginably vast was stirring in response to his call. Jellal flipped over in mid-air and brought his hand cutting down as he landed, and then that celestial fire was no longer in the sky, but _everywhere_ – above and below, inside and out, terrifying and somehow warm. From the heart of that light, Laxus was screaming.

There came the sound of something tearing – a ceremonial curtain still hanging in the cathedral, perhaps, or maybe it was space itself. An enormous thunderbolt tore through that intangible force as easily as it would a wall. The light flickered and vanished; the wrecked cathedral was once again visible around them. A second thunderbolt headed straight for Jellal.

Yet it did not hit him. Instead, it hit the swords that had appeared in front of him: a whole host of them, tip to hilt, forming a jagged ring of metal around him like the halo of some distant planet. The lightning hit the ring and raced around it, furious and burning but unable to break out of that conductive circuit. Erza gestured and the ring broke apart, each sword burying itself point-first into the churned-up floor and dispersing the energy into the ground.

She ran over to Jellal, helping to support him as he gasped for breath. His left hand was pressed to the spot where Laxus had hit him; he had, perhaps, underestimated how much his gamble would cost him.

"Are you alright?" she asked him.

He ignored the question. "I can see why you were having so much trouble against him," Jellal remarked, eyeing Laxus unhappily. "He just won't stay down, will he? That level of endurance just isn't fair. Damn dragons."

"Do you think, if you could hit him with Abyss Break…?"

"Give me _some_ credit, Erza." He gave a weary smile. "I'm not the kind of person who would hold out on my strongest magic until the very end of a battle just for dramatic purposes. If I thought it would work, I'd have opened with it, after what he nearly did to Natsu. But there's simply no way I can hit him with it. He's too fast. The moment he senses me gathering that amount of energy, he'll jump into that lightning form of his and tear me apart long before I can complete it."

For the first time since the battle had begun, dismay entered Erza's eyes. "Then… is there no way we can win?"

"Quite the opposite," he said, and she looked at him, startled. He explained, "There's no way we're going to lose. Laxus's defeat was assured from the moment the four of you pushed him into that state. It's draining his magic unsustainably quickly, and he can't leave it voluntarily; if we draw the battle out by running around without attacking, he'll pass out from magical exhaustion on his own before long. But…"

"But it won't mean anything," Erza confirmed, understanding what he was getting at right away. "If Laxus loses because he overstretched himself, it's simply a mistake that he can rectify next time. For him to learn anything from this, he needs to lose not because of his weakness, but because of our strength. That's the only way for the guild to prove to him that he will _never_ succeed."

"Precisely. His defeat has no meaning unless it comes when he is at his strongest. Which means…"

"We're stuck doing this the hard way," Erza finished.

"You two have some nerve," Laxus interrupted, harsh and cold. "Stood there talking as though you have a _choice_ of ways to fight. Shall I show you just how misplaced your confidence is?"

Erza's response was lost as a great weight pressed down upon them, as though the atmospheric pressure had suddenly doubled. Light filled the room: not the pure light of the heavens, but a cruel light, radiating out from between Laxus's palms. It did not erase the shadows, but lengthened them; an abhorrent existence made all the worse by its similarity to magic they knew well.

"Fairy Law!" Erza exclaimed.

It was – but not as they knew it. There was nothing of the warm comfort they had felt when Makarov had wielded it against Jose to save their lives. There was only despair: a hollow light, corrupted and cold, wrenched from its true purpose and bound to the will of another.

She glanced at Jellal; he answered her unspoken question with wide eyes. "There's only one thing anyone can do when faced with the ultimate judgement magic: run."

And that wasn't a real option. Gajeel couldn't move and Natsu wasn't much better. Levy was nowhere to be seen; she, at least, seemed to have taken Jellal's advice, although it would do no good against a magic that could encompass most of Magnolia. There was no time to think – only to act.

"Laxus!" Erza shouted. Letting all her swords vanish, she walked towards him, her empty palms upturned in a gesture of peace. "Laxus, stop. If you use that magic, it's not just us you will destroy – you'll wipe out the entire city too!"

"I'm going to win!" he howled. "Right now!"

"Erza, get back!" Jellal hissed, his desire to grab her and run like hell suppressed only by the knowledge that she would never forgive him for it.

Taking a deep breath, Erza ignored him and stared straight into that terrible light. "Laxus, you can't win like this. The people of Magnolia aren't your enemies! There's no need for you to drag them into this!"

"Wrong," Laxus corrected her. "There would be no need for this if only that old man would step down. Then no one would have to get hurt!"

"Well, he can't, can he?" Jellal interjected. "How is he supposed to step down when he's unconscious in hospital?"

"…What?" Laxus asked. The blinding light grew no brighter.

Jellal glanced at Erza. "You didn't tell him?"

"There wasn't really a good time," she mumbled.

Unhappy at being ignored, Laxus snapped again, " _What happened?_ "

"Your grandfather collapsed," Erza informed him. "Porlyusica doesn't think he'll live through this day. Please, Laxus. It was your willingness to indiscriminately harm the citizens that caused him to collapse in the first place. Don't let that be Fairy Tail's – your grandfather's – legacy."

For a moment, the light seemed to dim. "The old man's… dying?" Laxus murmured.

"Don't do this, Laxus. It's okay for you to stop; to go and see him. He's your family."

But the hope they had so briefly dared to entertain was crushed by merciless laughter. He was far beyond reason now. "This is perfect! If he dies, I can still become Master!"

"Laxus!" Erza yelled, but the crashing of magic drowned out her voice. She summoned her blade and flung herself at him, desperate to disrupt the invocation of that almighty magic, and she sensed Jellal doing the same at her side – for all the good it would do. The sheer energy radiating out from Laxus's palms repelled their magic more effectively than any armour.

Cracks appeared in what remained of the cathedral walls. The rubble began to lift up into the air, moved by an unearthly wind. It was difficult to breathe, so saturated was the air with magic power. This was the apocalypse, unleashed.

And above the creaking of ancient stone and the lament of the earth and the screaming cacophony of magic, there came something else: the sound of a propeller.

"LAXUS!" Levy was bellowing. They glanced left and right but could not see her anywhere; she must have been outside the cathedral. Her disembodied voice continued, "Fairy Law is our guild's magic! It's supposed to protect our family; our city; our home!"

Through the hole in the ceiling the combatants could see the sky, and in that sky, there was a biplane. A little wooden one, a prototype, still in the experimental stage, with two pairs of wings, a single propeller, and a lacrima to fuel it with magic. Having already landed once atop a moving airship, the biplane was used to touching down in odd places. It barely protested at all as its pilot turned the nose down and it plunged towards the hole in the cathedral ceiling.

The closer it got, the more the wood warped under the pressure of the magic. One wingtip caught fire. It was vibrating so much that several bolts and supports, including the landing gear, were shaken loose. Yet the power Laxus held in his hands, which would have overwhelmed and erased any other magic at once, could not stop a physical plane diving towards him at full speed – or overcome the resolve of the girl at its controls.

"Levy, NO!" Jellal was screaming. "DON'T DO THIS-!"

But Levy had spent the past thirty days deliberately doing the opposite of what he wanted. She was not about to break the habit now. With a faint smile, she gripped the controls a little tighter.

"Laxus!" she yelled again. "I won't let the last thing the Master ever sees be you using his magic to destroy the very thing you're supposed to be protecting!" And she brought the plane crashing down on top of Laxus.

By the moment of impact, it wasn't a plane but a fireball, and it struck like a meteorite. The flames ignited the magic around them, detonating Fairy Law before it had fully formed and ripping the world apart.

There was nothing but light and heat. The plane's lacrima overloaded: a second explosion; a second wave of devastation. Scorching air seared their lungs as the ground disappeared from beneath them. There was no sky, only hell; and no future but the path that led through fire and brimstone.

In the madness, Jellal reached for Erza, no thought in his mind other than to try and shield her somehow, but he could see nothing, hear nothing, and he could not find her.

He was alone, they were all alone, as crimson faded to black and the world ended in fire.

* * *

Jellal could not have been out for long, because when he came to, the stone he lay upon was still burning hot and his ears were ringing with the sound of the explosion. With great effort, he raised his head, and found to his horror that he wasn't in the cathedral any more.

No, that wasn't right – he hadn't moved; of course he hadn't moved. It was the cathedral that had gone. The walls, stained glass windows, pillars, statues, even the great organ – they were no more, and all that remained was an enormous pile of rubble, on top of which he lay. All traces of that irreplaceable piece of cultural heritage had been erased. Looking around at the destruction, which topped anything Fairy Tail had managed to date, including crash-landing a state-of-the-art airship in a lake, he was struck by the overwhelming desire to rest his head back down on the baked stone and hope it was all just a bad dream.

Then he remembered the battle. Before he knew it, he was back on his feet, scanning the brand new wasteland in the heart of the city for any sign of Erza or Levy. At first he could see nothing but wreckage, and fear gripped him, because he had not been fast enough or strong enough to save anyone.

But while he was still learning that strength, it came as naturally as breathing to Erza. Jellal had thought only of her when the world had exploded, but she had thought not of the man she loved, who she trusted to take care of himself, but of the friend who was in far more danger. He already knew that she was prepared to risk a life where she was safe with him in order to save those she cared about, and that was no less true just because Thunder Palace had been overcome.

The biplane's impact had forced Fairy Law to activate before it was complete, so rather than taking its proper form and sweeping across the entire city, its energy had been released in an unformed state, appearing as a sphere of destruction large enough to encompass the cathedral but too small to touch any of the other buildings in the town. At the edge of the circle of devastation stood Erza and Levy.

As Jellal sprinted over to them, he could see that they weren't in a good way. Exhausted and burned, Levy was barely clinging to consciousness, upright only because of Erza's support.

And as for Erza herself… she had dived into the heart of the inferno to pull Levy out before impact, and though she had survived intact, her armour had not. To be fair, there hadn't been much of her Heaven's Wheel Armour in the first place, especially not on the top half of her body. Now there was even less, and what did remain was blackened, singed, and presently crumbling to pieces. One of her wings had disappeared completely, and nothing remained of the other but a handful of semi-melted feather-like blades.

"Erza! Levy! Are you alright?" he shouted.

Erza glanced at him and smiled. "We'll be fine."

Levy, by contrast, seemed to come alive again as he approached – and for all the wrong reasons. Her first response was to seize a lump of what might once have been cathedral ceiling and throw it at his head. "Don't look!" she shouted, planting herself firmly in front of Erza.

"What-?"

"Levy, it's fine, I don't mind," Erza assured her.

"It's not fine, and you should mind!" Levy retorted. "We already know he's a creepy pervert!"

"Seriously, you're still going on about that?" Jellal groaned.

Unimpressed, she ordered him, "You – turn around!"

"But what if-"

"Do it!"

It was probably best not to argue with her when she got like this. Besides, if Levy could still shout at him then it meant she was going to be okay, and that was so much better than the outcome he had foreseen that there was a slight smile on his face as he submitted to her silly whims, just this once.

When he was safely looking in the other direction, keeping a careful eye out for Laxus, Levy continued, "Erza, can't you just Requip some clothes, or something?"

"I cannot," came the solemn, and wonderfully tactless, response. "I promised Laxus I would not Requip my armour again until I had defeated him."

Levy's drawn-out sigh echoed over the wasteland. "I think Laxus would understand that you meant you wouldn't Requip for combat purposes. Requipping to cover a wardrobe malfunction is completely fine."

"I gave him my word, Levy."

Jellal gave a pointed cough. Trying his hardest not to look, he held out his overcoat. Erza took it, snapped off the remaining fragments of her wings, and shrugged into it, testing out her manoeuvrability. It wasn't in a great way, given that Jellal hadn't escaped the explosion entirely unscathed either, but it was enough of an improvement on her previous state for Levy to allow it.

"Natsu and Gajeel were at the edge of the blast, so they're fine," Erza informed Jellal, now that Levy had permitted the conversation to continue. "Do you think Laxus…?"

"I doubt that was enough to finish him," came the glum response. "If we're still standing, he will be too. You may have stopped Fairy Law, Levy, but all the magic he had drawn up to execute it with would have shielded him from the damage. If that isn't enough to make him give up…"

"Then we revert to our previous plan," Erza finished matter-of-factly. "You're going to hit him with Abyss Break."

"We didn't _have_ a plan for that," Jellal pointed out, exasperated. "It's not possible. I told you, I only learnt Abyss Break to show off to other Wizard Saints with; it's impossible to use in a real fight. It's utterly useless magic."

Just as calmly as before, she countered, "It's useless magic if you're fighting on your own. But you're _not_ alone – and I promise, you'll never have to be alone again. I will trap Laxus for you."

"How? And even if you could, he can get out of anything just by turning himself into lightning-"

"Trust me." Then, with a faint smile, Erza teased, "Or is it just that you're so bad with Abyss Break, you can't even hit a stationary target with it…?"

"Of course I can hit a stationary target," he scowled. "If you can pin him, I'll finish it."

The rubble shifted; a spray of rocks and broken glass burst into the air as Laxus made his reappearance. He wasn't in a good way, but watching him fall wasn't the point – it was to beat him definitively. That was the only way to end the dragon's madness. He had got up again, so they had to knock him back down, and this time, ensure that he stayed there.

The time for polite invitation was long gone. Erza was already running towards him. As she had promised, she was not wearing armour, but she was fearless, absolutely fearless.

Five swords appeared, floating, above her; she sent them soaring towards Laxus with a wave of her hand. A burst of lightning knocked them out of the air, and a second headed straight for her, but she rolled beneath it, launching another three weapons towards him as she did so.

She was much faster than he was. While he was drawing upon greatly depleted reserves of energy to produce deadly lightning bolts, she was merely pulling weapons from her personal dimension, just as she had been doing for eight years now. It was as effortless as breathing, and as quick. Before long, Laxus was not able to retaliate at all, forced to defend over and over as she closed the gap between them. His fists repeatedly struck telekinetic blades away from him, yet for every one he deflected, there were another two soaring towards him.

There were ten, twenty, thirty swords scattered all around him; some lying dead, some buried up to their hilt in rubble, some defying gravity to stand on end and point towards him; and still there were another forty in the sky waiting to strike. Fierce, intense; Erza's storm of two hundred weapons raged against his inhuman endurance.

Yet two hundred blades were not infinite. They were enough to save the guild, perhaps, but not enough to win. The steel storm came to an end with Laxus standing victorious upon broken rock and lifeless blades. "Not enough, Erza," he hissed.

But she simply smiled. "I told you, Laxus. No Requipping; no borrowing the magic of my armours as my own. Just my blades and my will."

As he lunged for her, she brought her hand sweeping upwards. All the discarded swords came alive at once. They drew together to form a steel cage around Laxus: a prison of razor-sharp bars and Erza's willpower. Growling, he threw himself at the closest cluster of blades, but they did not budge, and the sharpest edges drew faint lines of blood from his skin. Greater even than his physical strength, her will would never be broken again.

Laxus knew he was trapped. He also knew, from the power he could sense building up at the other side of the ruins, that if he stayed here, he was going to lose. The magic within him screamed its fury at his weakness. Drawing upon the remnants of his power, he struck the walls of the cage again, but the metal structure rerouted the lightning harmlessly into the earth and did not move an inch.

Panic rose up within him. He hated running, but he was not going to sit here and wait for Jellal's ultimate magic to finish him. Cursing, he switched to his lightning form and slipped through the cage of weapons.

That was the intention, anyway. What actually happened was a great bang, as lightning poured like water down the bars of the cage, and then Laxus was thrown backwards, forced back into physical form. Horrified, he stared up at his prison, but he could not sense any special magic upon it other than Erza's telekinesis. "Impossible," he growled, and he shifted to lightning form again, only for the same thing to happen.

"Not impossible," she smiled. "An improvised Faraday cage. Levy gave me the idea. Laxus, you were right to say that because of the different kinds of magic my armours offer me, I will never be as strong with any one type of magic as you are. But, that doesn't matter. Every kind of magic has a weakness, and every mage has flaws in their strategy. As long as I can use competently the one type of magic to which you are vulnerable, I can still beat you, no matter how much time you put into perfecting your lightning magic. And, I'm fighting as part of a team. If I can use your weakness to trap you, there will always be someone else to strike the finishing blow."

Laxus glared at her, but had nothing to say. Even the lacrima pulsing like a second heart in his chest knew that he had lost.

Erza frowned. "Yeah, whenever you're ready, Jellal…"

"Sorry!" he called back. "I didn't want to interrupt you while you were explaining, or gloating, or whatever it was you were doing…"

"Oh, shush," she retorted, but they were both grinning, because victory was theirs. She stepped aside, and Laxus could see for the first time what he was up against.

A silver-gold magic circle hovered in front of Jellal, intricate and beautiful, and flickering with power. They all knew it: it was the same great magic that Phantom Lord had come so close to inflicting upon Magnolia during the guild war, but in miniature, for he was trying to cut down the power as much as possible to reduce the collateral damage.

The magic circle collapsed in on itself, and a tiny streak of silver light, so small it was almost invisible, flashed from Jellal's outstretched hand across to Laxus.

There was a thunderous crack and space itself split in two along that little silver fracture. For the briefest of moments, the halves of the world on either side of it didn't quite match up, and then the disorienting moment was lost as the environment reacted violently to the change. Cataclysmic pressure cut a deep swathe through the cathedral ruins, hurling up a curtain of rubble on either side. The earth shook to its very core. A furious surge of wind flung the wreckage out across the city.

Although it perhaps wasn't as visually impressive as the explosion which had torn down the cathedral in the first place, the enormous concentration of magic power focussed into that single destructive blast could not be denied. It was impossible to imagine how Laxus must have felt as that power tore straight through his prison, and then through him – and not even he could take a hit like that. The peace of unconsciousness claimed him at last.

Jellal let out the breath he had been holding, and his arms fell back to his sides. Erza turned to him and smiled. "It's over," she said.

"It is," he agreed.

Because it was. Not just the Battle of Fairy Tail, but also the conflict between Jellal and his guild, for in defending his friends there with everything he had, he had finally accepted that he was firmly on their side.

And as Erza embraced him, and he held her tightly, he concluded that there was another thing that had come to an end: his attempt to kidnap Erza. That was something he had well and truly failed at, and he had no intention whatsoever of giving it another go.

* * *

 _ **A/N:** Me, writing this chapter: "Okay, so I'm definitely not going to go overboard with this one. It may be a final battle, but the story's more about the relationships and the daily life stuff than the action really, so I'll try to keep it down to a reasonable length. Also, it's going to be a multi-stage fight featuring no fewer than six combatants, including a long enough solo fight to focus on Erza, enough pseudoscience to make up for the disappointing lack of it in the rest of the story, Jellal finally getting to use his Useless Magic, and Fairy Law vs Kamikaze Pilot Levy."_

 _..._

 _I give up. One day I will master the ability to keep scenes to their intended lengths, but evidently today is not that day. What little restraint I have tends to disappear anyway the closer I get to the end of a story._

 _On which note, one chapter to go, folks! ~CS_


	27. Never End

**Kidnapping Erza**

By CrimsonStarbird

* * *

 **Chapter Twenty-Seven: Never End**

"Good news, Siegrain!" Mira announced. "Apart from Natsu, Gajeel, and Levy, everyone else in the guild is pretty much fine, so the Master has decided to go ahead with the Fantasia Parade this evening after all!"

"…Mira, that is not _good news,_ " Jellal pointed out exhaustedly. "In fact, in a day that has been almost exclusively filled with bad things – including but not limited to me being dragged into your stupid Battle of Fairy Tail and almost dying multiple times – I think this takes the biscuit. After everything I've done for your guild, the least you could do is postpone the parade until tomorrow, when I wouldn't have to have anything to do with it."

"Now, where would be the fun in that?"

They were back in the guildhall, which was as rowdy and cheerful as ever. Looking around, one would not think that these people had just survived a guild-wide battle royal against a literally power-crazed former ally in which their lives, and those of everyone else in the city, had come under threat at least twice. Then again, Jellal supposed that it really was just another ordinary day in Fairy Tail. In fact, the most unusual thing about the whole scene was that the guild _wasn't_ throwing an enormous party – and that was only because they had to save all the food for that evening's spectacle.

That wasn't to say they didn't have enough to celebrate to warrant two feasts, however. Makarov was going to make a full recovery, and that alone was worth one. For the time being, he was resting in the infirmary, along with Levy and Erza. The girls were having their burns looked at by Porlyusica, who had just finished treating Natsu and Gajeel. Neither of the Dragon Slayers could walk without crutches, and Natsu in particular was wrapped up in so many bandages that Jellal couldn't look at him without experiencing horrible flashbacks to that time in the haunted house. Unable to join in with the general liveliness, they were sat on a bench against the wall, sullen and grumpy and – thanks to the bandages over Natsu's mouth – blessedly quiet.

Jellal was sat at the bar, trying not to draw attention to himself. That had been easier said than done at first. News of their team's victory over Laxus had reached the guildhall faster than they had, and there had been no shortage of people wanting to congratulate them upon their arrival, much to Jellal's annoyance. He had only managed to get away by insisting he was going to check up on Erza in the infirmary – who had berated him loudly for worrying about her and sent him straight back to the main hall – and, fortunately, he had managed to avoid being noticed as he slipped back up to the bar.

"Besides," Mira was saying, dragging his attention back to the present. Her teasing grin set alarm bells ringing in his head. "When you say today was exclusively full of bad things, are you including the bit where you asked Erza out in that?"

"I said _almost_ exclusively," he grumbled, scowling down at the bar and hoping that his embarrassment would be interpreted as annoyance.

Of course, as luck would have it, two particularly inquisitive girls happened to be passing the bar at that exact moment. Both of them paused, exchanged glances, and then stared openly at Jellal.

"Did Juvia hear that correctly?" Juvia asked him.

"You finally asked Erza out?" Lucy demanded. "I mean, you actually did it?"

"I… sort of…"

"By which he means _yes_ ," Mira translated helpfully. "Erza was telling me about it. It all sounded very dramatic."

"That's one word for it," Jellal muttered.

Much to his dismay, rather than being dissuaded from pursuing the line of enquiry, the girls sat down on either side of him. "Go on, then," Lucy prompted him. "Tell us everything. What happened? Was it exciting? Terrifying?"

Jellal thought for a moment. "Accidental."

"Accidental?" Lucy blinked. "Oh, you mean it was a spontaneous decision to confess to her, made in the heat of the moment – right?"

"Not… really. I wasn't intending to confess, or anything like that. I was only trying to stop her from sacrificing herself! Next thing I know, she's taken everything I said literally, and now I appear to be in a relationship." He looked directly at Lucy. "Help me."

"You'll do fine," she assured him, smiling. "Just keep doing as you've been doing."

Several failed attempts at kidnapping Erza sprung to Jellal's mind. "You know, I don't think that's going to work out quite as well as you think it will…"

Mira gave a wistful sigh, placing her elbows on the counter and resting her chin on her hands. "Still, I can't believe that after all our hard work, the one who ended up finally getting them together was Laxus. All that time spent trying to be subtle, when what we really needed to do was throw the two of them into a desperate fight to the death."

"Things have been a bit backward today, haven't they?" Lucy agreed. "For one thing, we all ended up fighting each other rather than a common enemy, and then Gray and Warren had us all abandoning magic to destroy Thunder Palace with crossbows and a biplane."

"Plus, it wasn't even Natsu, Laxus or I who demolished Kardia Cathedral – it was Levy," Jellal added. "I bet no one saw that coming."

"Actually, about that…" Mira began sweetly.

"She'd better not be trying to pin that on me! It was all her! I have witnesses!"

She laughed. "No, Levy owned up to destroying the cathedral. The surprising thing is that the mayor isn't going to press charges. In fact, he's grateful. He's been looking for an excuse to knock that old building down for years, but couldn't get permission, because it was listed. The city council reported it as an air traffic control accident, and they're already filing plans to erect a new building there – a fully modernized town hall which will contribute to the community, rather than a defunct old relic that only history fanatics ever got any use out of."

"…So Fairy Tail destroyed something irreplaceable, and got _thanked_ for it?" Jellal looked amazed. "Alright, this really _is_ a topsy-turvy day."

Juvia suggested, "And then there's the fact that Mira fought too."

"You did?" Jellal inquired. "You got your old magic back?"

Mira nodded. Now that she mentioned it, he could not detect the sinister aura that he had grown accustomed to glimpsing out of the corner of his eye whenever she was around: she had taken back that magic and made it her own.

"And there I thought you had retired from being a guild mage," he remarked.

"I had," Mira shrugged. "But then, I realized that if I was going to tag along on dangerous airship raids anyway, magic or no, I might as well just go all the way and come out of retirement. I didn't know I was going to be able to use magic again until it happened, but I was going to fight for my guild either way."

"Mirajane was amazing!" Juvia insisted fiercely. "She could beat you, definitely!"

"Aww, I wish I'd seen it now." Lucy sounded more than a little put out.

Jellal sighed. "I'm sure you'll get a chance to see her fight soon enough. From my experience in this guild, it'll be a week tops before some deadly catastrophe strikes you lot again."

"Oh, I hope not. You know, I could have sworn things weren't this bad before you arrived."

Mira nodded sagely. "Councillor Siegrain, you are a troublemaker and a bad influence on this guild."

He glared at her, but it only made her laugh. Much to his chagrin, she explained, "I haven't seen you glare at anyone like that for a while. I was beginning to get worried."

Before he could growl an angry retort, Erza appeared, entering the main hall from the infirmary and making a beeline for the four of them. Despite launching herself straight into the heart of the inferno which had razed a centuries-old cathedral to the ground, she looked completely fine. The faint smell of medicinal herbs was the only indication that she had taken any damage during that battle at all. Fortunately, now that Laxus had been defeated, she was free to Requip again, and so was wearing clothes appropriate for appearing out in public in. There was a spring in her step, and she couldn't keep a smile off her face, and Lucy, Mira and Juvia suspected that the end of the Battle of Fairy Tail wasn't the only reason for it.

"Glad to see you're looking well, Erza," Mira greeted her. She shot Lucy and Juvia a meaningful look. "Though we'll have to catch up with you later, I'm afraid. We were just on our way to… to go and check on Levy."

"She's fine," Erza informed her. "She'll be out in a minute; there's no need to go-"

"She might need help," Lucy overrode her hastily. "We'd best go and see."

"Help with what…?" Erza wondered, but the three girls were already sidling away, leaving her and Jellal alone. She seemed to realize this, and sat down beside him without further protest.

Seconds ticked by in silence. Both of them stared fixedly at the counter, as though waiting for it to send them instructions. It did not.

They both bit the bullet at once.

"Jellal-"

"Erza-"

And they both glanced awkwardly away again, and the silence returned.

 _We're going to have to talk about this,_ Jellal realized. _We haven't had a proper conversation since she told me she knew who I was, and that… didn't end well. Everything which happened after that was impulsive and illogical, for both of us. I don't know what 'this' is, or what 'we' are… or what we're supposed to do next._

Because, at some point, they were going to have to talk about the past eight years. Erza might have said that she didn't blame Jellal for what he had done, but it wasn't Jellal she had said those things to. It was always to her friends, or to 'Siegrain'.

When he had expressed his uncertainty to Lucy earlier, it wasn't because he didn't know how he felt about Erza, or because he didn't know whether he wanted to be in a relationship with her – because he _did_. In this tentative new world, where the Tower's role – and his own – had yet to be defined, that was the only certainty he had. He just couldn't see how, given their past and everything he had done as a dark mage, Erza could possibly be okay with it all.

What had happened in the heat of battle was one thing. What they would do now that it was over; now that they had a chance to think things through and understand just what their being together meant… well, that was another matter entirely.

"Jellal," Erza said suddenly.

Nervous, his response came out as more of a snap than he had intended. "What?"

"Are you alright? Only, I know you're not indestructible, no matter how much you like to pretend otherwise in front of the others. Are you sure you don't want to check in with Porlyusica in the infirmary? I'll come with you, if you want."

"I'm fine, really." Jellal shook his head. "This seems like the first battle in a while that hasn't resulted in me collapsing immediately afterwards, so to be honest, I feel pretty good about it."

"I guess so," she laughed. "You always did push yourself too hard for us. That hasn't changed."

Jellal didn't know how to respond to that. The uncomfortable sense, which their borderline-normal conversation had been driving back, returned all at once.

Erza realized this at the same moment he did. "Jellal…" she began, and then frowned. "Actually, is it okay if I call you that?"

"It's fine. Actually… I think I'd like it if you did."

She gave a small smile, grateful that he had allowed it but even more so for the simple honesty in his words. That look put him a little more at ease, and he added, "Still, it's going to confuse the hell out of the others."

"I suppose it will," Erza agreed, with a laugh. "I'll try and come up with some way of explaining it to them." Then she seemed to consider the matter more seriously for a moment. "I may have to tell them quite a lot. I've never spoken to anyone about what happened to me before I came to this guild, but I feel as though I should… do you mind?"

"It's… it's up to you, Erza. It's your story to tell."

The silence returned. That was the only answer Jellal could have given her, and he knew it, but all it really did was draw attention back to the matter at hand. After all, she only had half the story – there was a lot she _didn't_ know. She knew he was Jellal, which also meant that she knew he was a dark mage, and she must have worked out that he had infiltrated the Council for some nefarious reason. But she didn't know why he had turned against her all those years ago, or what terrible things he had been hoping to achieve with the Tower. In fact, for all that she knew, he might still be holding her friends hostage, or planning to activate his R-System at any moment. He wondered if it would ever be possible for her to believe in him again.

So absorbed was he in his own thoughts that it took a moment for him to realize that this silence wasn't just between him and Erza, but had spread across the entire guild. Laxus had returned. Every single pair of eyes turned towards him as he advanced through the hall. Jellal was reminded of his first encounter with the guild, whereupon they had tied him to a chair and glared at him judgementally, united by their shared dislike of him, and he had to fight back a smile.

He was, however, quite possibly the only person in the hall who found anything amusing about the situation. The air was thick with tension – and magic, as more than a few mages prepared for a confrontation.

But Laxus just said, "Where is the old man?"

He obviously wasn't here to fight – his injuries and subdued manner aside, there was none of the aura of madness around him that had governed his actions at the end of the battle. Not that that was enough to stop certain angry members of the guild from demanding retribution and blocking his way to see the Master.

Fortunately, common sense had Erza on its side, and she _was_ enough to stop the guild. After their encounter on the battlefield, she understood Laxus just as well as Jellal did. She was confident and she was calm, and there was a fond smile upon Jellal's lips as he watched her ease the tension and allow Laxus through to see his grandfather.

Of course, not even she could stop Natsu from jumping to his feet and challenging Laxus to a rematch, one-on-one this time. Well, it was impossible to make out what he was saying through the bandages, but with Natsu, it was never too difficult to guess. The room waited with bated breath – half of them expecting Laxus to simply brush him off, and the other half expecting a fight to break out then and there.

Neither happened. Laxus told him, quietly, "I think you'll have to get in line, Natsu." And he glanced over the crowd to meet Jellal's gaze.

The Wizard Saint grinned at him. "Come back once you've got that Dragon Force of yours under control."

A small smile might have touched Laxus's lips at that moment. Then he was gone, with his coat billowing out behind him; disappearing through the door that led to the infirmary.

The spirited atmosphere returned at once to the guildhall – nothing could keep them down for long on such a day of triumph. "Did you hear that?" Natsu was saying excitedly, to anyone who would listen. "Laxus didn't turn me down!"

"Honestly," Erza sighed, as she returned to her seat. "And you're just as bad," she added to Jellal. "You're setting a poor example for Natsu to follow."

"It's not as though he ever does what I say anyway, is it?" Jellal replied dryly. "What do you think will happen to Laxus now?"

But it was Mira who answered, having resumed her usual position behind the bar. "The Master will expel him from the guild. He has no choice, however he might feel about it personally. He can't allow someone who deliberately endangered the lives of other guild members to stay. Laxus understands that. It's why he came to visit the Master now, in person."

Upon noticing Jellal's expression, Erza inquired, "Why? Are you sad that Laxus will have to leave?"

That wasn't quite it. He had only met Laxus twice, and on both occasions, Laxus had tried to kill him… but then again, at least Laxus had been open and honest about his intentions, and that was always refreshing. He supposed he did feel that it would be a shame if Laxus were to leave the guild.

What bothered him the most, though, was that Laxus had made a poor decision, and even though he had come to understand that what he had done was wrong – and was, as far as his pride would permit, apologetic – he still could not be allowed to remain in the guild. Jellal thought about the Tower of Heaven, and about Erza, and that was why he was sad.

"It's none of my business, is it?" he deflected, affecting a shrug.

"I suppose not. I'll be sad to see him go, though. I understand why the Master has to do it, but… I wish that weren't the case."

"You'd rather he stayed?" Jellal asked, a little too quickly.

"Maybe it's just because I was there in the final battle, but I know he knows he went too far, and I don't think he was fully responsible for everything he did either, especially not towards the end. As it happened, no one was seriously hurt by his actions, and I think he would learn and find forgiveness a lot more easily in the guild than he would alone. We all make mistakes, and because of them, we grow. That's why I think he deserves a second chance."

"You really think that?" he insisted, and neither of them was talking about Laxus any more.

"Weren't you the one who told me that the future is always more important than the past?" she smiled. "If he truly wants to change going forwards then I want to help in any small way that I can."

Mira gave a deliberate cough. "Even if you almost died because of him?"

"Well, I may have almost died stopping Thunder Palace," she conceded. "But it's also because of that that I- that we-" She glanced briefly at Jellal before returning her gaze to the floor, a curtain of scarlet hair hiding cheeks that were almost as red. "Well, all I'm saying is that it wasn't all bad…"

"I see," said Mira, with a knowing smile.

Lucy and Juvia returned with Levy, who was as cheerful as ever, despite her assortment of plasters and bandages. Without a word, she hugged Erza, and then, much to his astonishment, she hugged Jellal too. "I'm so happy for you two."

"Thanks, Levy," Erza smiled.

A loud knocking interrupted them before she could say anything else. Makarov had appeared, strolling down the counter towards them and rapping the end of his staff sharply against the wood in a call for silence. He looked as fierce as ever; if anyone noticed the redness of his eyes, or the single tear he had not managed to wipe away from his cheek, then they did not mention it.

"Alright, everyone, listen up!" the Master ordered. "The Fantasia Parade begins in three hours. We have a new route from the mayor which avoids the most damaged areas of town, and I want you all to familiarize yourselves with it before we set off. Between now and then, I want you to repair the damaged floats, finish off the last costumes, rehearse your performances to perfection, and get yourselves to the starting point with half an hour to go. After what we've put Magnolia through this afternoon, we are going to give them one hell of a show tonight. That is all."

The entire guild burst into life at that command, but no one more so than Jellal, who jumped to his feet so quickly that his stool was sent flying. "Crap, the parade!" And with that, he sprinted out of the door and took to the air. Moments later they heard a distant crack as he broke through the sound barrier in his haste to get away.

Lucy blinked at the empty space where he had been sitting. "…Overreaction, much?"

"Typical," Levy remarked. "Battle to the death against Laxus, and he's right there. But ask him to take part in one little parade, and he's out of here faster than you can say 'spoilsport'."

"Well, it isn't really his sort of thing," Erza reasoned, but they could all hear the disappointment she was struggling to keep out of her voice.

Mira tried to reassure her. "Don't worry, Erza. I'm sure he'll be back. He's probably just trying to get out of whatever awful thing the Master was planning to make him wear for the parade. Look."

She pointed to the diminutive old man, who was striding back and forth through the hall, dragging what looked suspiciously like a black and white lacy maid outfit behind him. "Where is that fool of a councillor?" he was muttering to himself.

"…Good point," Erza accepted.

"He'll be back to watch you in the parade," Mira promised. "He definitely will."

* * *

But by the time the bells atop the guildhall rang out, announcing the start of this year's Fantasia Parade, there was still no sign of Jellal.

As the three hours of preparation had drawn to a close, Lucy, Levy and Juvia had grown increasingly frantic. After a thorough search had confirmed that he hadn't doubled back and hidden in the guildhall to surprise them, they had split up to check every bar and café in the town centre – only stopping when an exasperated Erza had caught them trying to pick the lock on his front door and sternly instructed them to go and get changed for the parade.

In fact, the only person who didn't seem concerned about his whereabouts was Erza herself. And while, on one hand, she was a little sad that he wasn't going to watch her participate, she knew that this wasn't goodbye. After everything they had been through, he wouldn't just leave without saying anything. Once Fantasia was over, he'd be back, and they could talk things through – she was sure of it. Far more important than worrying where he had got to was ensuring that their guild's celebration was a success.

Within minutes of the parade starting, she had already forgotten any sadness she might have felt from standing on that float alone, rather than with Jellal. She took that stage and made it her own. She danced with her swords; one, two, or a hundred; spinning, weaving, flowing; ribbons of fluid silver rippling around her; as much a part of her as her hands or her hair or her heart. There were no fireworks – they had all been set off earlier – but there was light everywhere nonetheless: the fairy lights decorating the floats; the flashes of her magic, and that of her friends close by; the shimmering of the stars, far brighter than usual, as if they had come somehow closer to watch her dance.

There was cheering, merriment, and laughter from performers and spectators alike, as the citizens and the guild came together to celebrate the harvest. Fairy Tail was an irksome guild, often more trouble than it was worth – or so Magnolia's residents were wont to mutter when yet another house was accidentally destroyed – but it was _their_ guild, and when it came right down to it, they were as fond of Fairy Tail as its mages were of them. There was so much happiness and the night was alive with it. It was beautiful, truly beautiful, and standing at the heart of it, Erza was the happiest she had ever been.

She wished Jellal could have been here – not because she missed him, but because she thought he would have loved it too. If anything in the world could have convinced him to stay in the guild, surely it was this.

Then she wondered if that was precisely why he had avoided the parade, and laughed out loud.

It was only as they approached the end of the parade route, where the crowds were thinner and the town quieter and the night somehow a little lonelier, that it really hit her that he wasn't coming. For the first time, sadness seemed to creep into the festival atmosphere-

"ERZA!"

It wasn't Jellal's voice which broke into her thoughts. It was a female voice, though it didn't belong to anyone in her guild, or she'd have recognized it straight away. Rather, it took her a good few seconds to place, because the last time she had heard it, the speaker had been a child, and so had she.

Four people were running down a side alley towards her. Leading them was the young woman who had shouted: a bubbly brown-haired girl, with unmistakable cat ears atop her head, waving her arm wildly to attract Erza's attention. At her side, still wearing the blue and white patterned shirt and shorts of Akane Resort's staff uniform, was a tanned, blond man, also waving. Behind them ran a far larger man, his already-imposing physique made all the more frightening by his eyepatch and the steel framework supporting his lower jaw, yet his single visible eye was warmer and brighter than any Erza had ever seen. The fourth person, lagging somewhat at the back, was harder to recognize, because his body was unusually blocky and he was wearing shades despite the time of day – but by this point, Erza already knew exactly who he had to be.

She couldn't believe it at first. She froze; twenty swords hung dead in the air around her. It was a hallucination, some accidental illusion created by the stray magic drifting around the parade; it _had_ to be… But she blinked and rubbed her eyes and they were still there, still running towards her, still calling her name, still so full of life and joy-

And she was running too, the parade forgotten; her blades clattering to the ground behind her; her eyes so full of tears that she could hardly see where she was going.

Simon reached her first, and he lifted her up and swung her round as if she were weightless. The moment her feet touched the floor, they all piled on, hugging each other and laughing and crying; trying and failing to talk through the rush of emotion.

"You're all… you're all alright…" Erza managed to sob.

"And so are you," Simon responded solemnly. "You looked so strong up there, Erza, and so happy."

But this only made her break out into a fresh wave of tears. "I'm so sorry. All this time… I should have come back for you… I should have tried to do something…"

"Erza, it doesn't matter," Sho interrupted her. "You couldn't have come back. We understand. The fact that you've been happy and free – and that we could meet again here, all of us alive and well – is the only thing we care about."

Millianna interjected, "Besides, we're the ones who should be apologizing to you. For all this time, we believed that it was all your fault… we blamed you for everything! If not for that, maybe we could have seen you sooner…"

"That doesn't matter!" Erza insisted, and when she realized she was giving back to them the exact same reassurance they had given to her, she understood that all was forgiven. She smiled again, tearful and fragile and radiant. "I'm just so happy to see you again…"

"Us too," said Wally simply.

"What are you all doing here, anyway?"

"We're working at Akane Resort now," Millianna began. "So we were there this afternoon when Jellal just showed up out of the blue and ordered us to get on the next train to Magnolia. And you know what he can be like when he wants something doing… well, maybe you don't know, but let's just say that we were going to be on that train whether we wanted to or not. We ran for it, and made it just as the doors were closing. Then Jellal finally had time to explain that you were going to be performing in a parade tonight, and he thought it would be good if we all went to watch. We just about made it on time! We've been following you through the crowd the whole way – we've only just managed to catch up with you!"

"I'm sorry we can't stay and talk properly," Sho added. "Only, Simon's on the night shift tonight, and I just upped and left an hour early from my shift and I really ought to go and apologize to my boss…"

Millianna grasped Erza's hands in her own. "But we'll come back and visit you again very soon, I promise!"

Erza stared at them. "You came all the way here, just for this?"

"It was worth it," Simon told her, and he meant every word. "Erza, watching you dance as part of the parade… you're so beautiful, and so strong, and so very alive. That was worth eight years of waiting, let alone one train journey."

"Not to mention," Wally interjected, "Once we found out it was okay with Jellal for us to finally see you, nothing in the world could have kept us away."

"I…" Overcome with emotion, Erza couldn't say anything more, but they understood.

Sho patted her shoulder. "Erza, we have to go, or we'll miss the last train. But, like Millianna said, we'll be back as soon as we can, and then we'll catch up properly. It's a promise."

"And if you're ever near Akane Resort, just give us a shout." Millianna winked at her. "We can always get you discounted tickets!"

Erza's eyes shone with tears of happiness. Still she could not speak, so she made do with an earnest nod.

"We'll see you very soon, Erza," Simon promised.

Then the four of them were running back down the alleyway, heading for the station. Erza waved until they were out of sight, and then, slowly, peacefully, she let her hand fall back to her side. She stood alone in the night, but she was not lonely. A bright happiness had taken up residence in her heart, and she knew in that moment that she would never feel lonely again. In the distance, she could hear the parade coming to an end and the crowd beginning to disperse in search of food or rest or more festivities in the town centre – all the people of Magnolia just _living_ – and it made her so wonderfully content.

Wiping her eyes, Erza raised her head towards the cloudless night sky. In a tremulous voice, she called out, "Jellal?"

There was no answer.

Erza gave a rueful smile, and this time, her voice was stronger; more in control. "Come out, Jellal. I know you're there."

A shadow detached itself from a nearby rooftop as Jellal got to his feet and jumped down into the street. She rested her forehead against his shoulder, and he put one arm around her impulsively. She asked, "It's over, isn't it?"

"Yes," he confirmed. "It's over."

"Thank you," she whispered, and they remained like that for a while, until she mustered the courage to speak again. "Jellal… can we talk about this?"

He took a step backwards, so that he could better see her expression; so that he could better understand. "We're going to have to, aren't we?"

"If you don't want to-"

"No, you're right," he cut in, before she could back out for his sake. "We do need to talk."

"Shall we go into town, then?"

Her suggestion caught him by surprise. "Town…?" he echoed.

"The Fantasia Parade is coming to an end, but the festival itself goes on all night. There are all sorts of food stands, arcade stalls, and street performances taking place in the centre of town… I thought we could go and wander around for a bit, if you wanted."

"I…" Jellal stared at her. On one hand, he had just assumed that if they were going to talk about the past eight years, they were going to need somewhere private… but on the other hand, her suggestion was appealing. Very appealing, indeed. "Alright."

It was a lot less rowdy away from the parade route, but just as cheerful and bright. There were as many people roaming the town centre that night as there would have been in the middle of an ordinary day. Glitter and confetti, thrown from the passing parade floats, had transformed the streets into rivers of speckled starlight.

Walking around with Erza was… strange. For one thing, he wasn't trying to kidnap her. In fact, both had been completely honest about their motives for wanting to be there with each other. No one was spying on them, or attempting, subtly or otherwise, to break them up.

And they were together – not fighting, not out on a guild mission, not forced to participate in some stupid Fairy Tail event; just the two of them side by side, child survivors of the Tower of Heaven, a notorious dark mage and a heroic guild mage, indistinguishable from any other couple out enjoying the festival together. That something so normal could be possible after everything they had been through was a miracle in itself.

They took on several of the games at festival stands; they bought seasonal food and ate it sat together; they watched street performers juggle and play with fire. They ran into most of their friends over the course of the evening, and though they always stopped to say hello, none of them tried to outstay their welcome or invite themselves along with the two of them. Eventually their spontaneous route took them out of the busy centre. It was darker here, and there was no one else around; they walked together alongside the tranquil canal.

It was here that Erza turned to him and asked, "Jellal, what happened? Why did you choose to stay in the Tower of Heaven? What have you been doing for all these years? Why are you on the _Council?_ " This last question held an almost comical note of disbelief.

Jellal glanced over his shoulder towards the soft glow of the town centre, and a darkness momentarily clouded his vision. "You know, for a long time back there, I really thought you weren't going to ask."

"I thought you probably didn't want to talk about it."

"I thought you probably didn't want to hear about it." Again, he could only meet her earnest gaze for a moment before darting across the shadow-painted canal, settling upon anything, everything, that wasn't her. "I've done a lot of bad things, Erza."

"Do you regret them?" she asked gently.

"…Not all of them."

Erza smiled a little at the sulkiness that had jumped unbidden into his tone, but he did not smile back.

"Erza," he continued. "If you ask me, I will answer you truthfully, but you may not like what you hear."

She considered this for a moment. "Jellal," she began. "May I hold your hand?"

"…Eh?"

They stared at each other, and when she didn't immediately correct herself, he was forced to conclude that she really did mean it. "I… I suppose so." Glancing at the ground, he mumbled, "You don't really… need to ask."

With a small smile, she slipped her hand into his. "Jellal," she said softly, as they began walking once again through the night's serenity. "I told you, didn't I, that I have loved you for as long as I can remember? That didn't change, on the day that you seized control of the Tower of Heaven – however much I might have wished back then that it had. I never hated you for it; I was only ever sad. And that hasn't changed since, except to become all the more important to me.

"That's how I know that whatever you have to say to me, it won't change how I feel about you. All it might do is make _this_ -" her hand tightened around his "-a little more difficult, but if you truly want to stay with me as much as I do with you, then we will find a way to make it work regardless. Today alone you have proven yourself to me ten times over, and whatever happened in the past, I don't doubt for a second that the person stood in front of me right now is a good man. Millianna, Sho, Wally and Simon – they all want to move on from this, towards the futures they are finally able to choose for themselves. Let's do the same, you and I. Let's put this to rest here and now, and start over together."

Her hand in his: a promise that she would not run. No matter what the future held, they would face it together. She smiled at him, that gorgeous, radiant smile, which could at once put him at ease and fill him with happiness and stop his heart with its sheer beauty.

Impulsively, he said, "I do want to stay with you that much."

"Then we'll work this out together," she promised, with absolute certainty.

"…Alright, then. I suppose it all started when I met the ghost of Zeref-"

Erza stopped in her tracks. "You did _what_ -?"

"Met the ghost of Zeref," he repeated, trying not to laugh at her stunned expression. "I never said it had been an uninteresting eight years. Just you wait until we get to the part where I convince the Magic Council that I have an evil twin brother. All I'm saying is that if you're going to interrupt me every time I get to an interesting bit, it's going to be a _very_ long night."

Her eyes sparkled. "And you thought I would have a problem with that?"

"…Point taken," Jellal said, and they walked on.

* * *

Day thirty-one.

There was nothing out of the ordinary as the sun rose over Fairy Tail that day, except that a slightly higher proportion of its members were hungover than usual. Perhaps because of this, the atmosphere was calm and quiet. The guildhall was doing a roaring trade in brunch – meaning that, unusually, Mira was the busiest of all its members, yet she still managed to look enviably graceful as she swept between tables, balancing an impossible number of plates on her arms.

Returning to the counter, she deposited plates piled high with sausages, bacon and eggs in front of Natsu, Lucy, Levy, and finally Erza. The latter looked up in surprise as Mira collapsed onto her own stool, exhausted. "I didn't order anything," Erza pointed out, bemused.

"I know," Mira responded. "It's on the house."

"Well… thank you," Erza said, pleasantly surprised, as she picked up her fork.

Mira winked at her. "And in return, you can tell us all about what happened last night."

"Nothing happened, really," Erza mused, as she continued to eat calmly.

"Don't tell us it was nothing!" Levy burst out. "Erza, we _know_ you didn't come back to the dorms last night. You were staying at Siegrain's flat, weren't you?"

"Yes," Erza shrugged. "Just probably not in the way you're thinking." At the girl's suspicious look, she clarified serenely, "We had a lot to talk about. We walked around town for a bit, and when it got late, we went back to his flat and continued talking there. It was a good job we had so much to discuss, really, since he doesn't have a bed or anything…"

"Oh!" Lucy exclaimed. "I had forgotten he doesn't have any proper furniture."

"And we couldn't exactly go to my room in the dorms, thanks to Levy's restraining order…"

Levy choked on her coffee. "Erza! I thought it went without saying that I take all that back now you're actually going out…"

Erza just shrugged again, a slight smile on her face, having casually and deliberately turned the girls' attempt to embarrass her on its head. "It doesn't matter, anyway. We needed to talk, and we've managed to sort things out."

"Speaking of which," Natsu suddenly interrupted. "Where is Siegrain, anyway?"

"Era, I suspect," came Erza's cool response.

"…What?"

"He does work there, you know."

"No, he doesn't! He's part of our guild!"

"Not as of midnight last night. His contract with the Master is officially over; he doesn't have to remain in this guild for a second more."

"But… but…" Natsu floundered. "He was so obviously going to stay and join the guild!"

"He hates this guild," Erza pointed out. "He's never made any secret of that. Why would he want to stay?"

"Because he's genuinely been having fun here recently?" Lucy suggested.

"Because, despite his best efforts to the contrary, he's made far more friends here than he actually has at the Council?" Mira tried.

Levy slammed her hands down on the bar in indignation. "Because of you, Erza! You can't seriously be telling us that you two are going long-distance already! Do you even know how far away Era is?"

"I do know. But, that's just the way things work out sometimes." She offered her half-eaten breakfast a sad smile. "Besides, he's a Wizard Saint and a member of the Magic Council. I can't ask him to give all that up for me, when I know I would never give up Fairy Tail to go and live in Era with him."

"But that's different!" Levy protested. "He hates being part of the Magic Council, and he genuinely likes it here! I know he does; we were talking about this just a few days ago!"

"Sorry, Levy. It's just how things are."

"Well I won't stand for-"

Levy's protest was interrupted by a loud cough from Mira. "Ahem. Team huddle."

Much to Erza's bemusement, Mira proceeded to seize Lucy, Levy and Natsu, and drag them over to the corner of the room. There they engaged in a hushed and not at all suspicious private discussion, stopping only twice – once to find Gray and Juvia and force them to join in, and a second time, when Levy seized a passing Gajeel's arm and he too was engulfed by the huddle.

Eventually, Mira resurfaced from the group, and this time it was to accost their Guild Master. "Ah, Master," she breezed. "Can I get permission for myself and an elite handpicked team to go on an emergency mission that definitely won't involve going near the Magic Council or doing anything at all that might endanger the guild's future? Please?"

Makarov gazed at her suspiciously for a moment, and then gave in with a sigh. "Oh, why not?"

Trying not to smile, Erza stopped watching them out of the corner of her eye and returned her full attention to her breakfast.

* * *

"You're doing WHAT?" Ultear screeched.

"Cancelling the Tower of Heaven project," Jellal repeated calmly.

"But… but…" Words failed her. "You can't do that! You wouldn't!"

"Allow me to pick you up on a couple of points there," Jellal interjected, and he was clearly enjoying himself immensely. "I _can_ do that, and in fact I already have."

"But what about destroying the world? Finding freedom? RESURRECTING ZEREF?"

"…You know, there's not much point in keeping this a secret for eight years if you're just going to start yelling about it in the middle of the Council Headquarters."

"There's not much point in keeping it a secret for eight years if you're just going to quit when we are _this_ close to our goal!" Ultear shook her head in outraged disbelief. "Are you really willing to let all those years of hard work go to waste?"

"Oh, I don't think building the Tower of Heaven was a _total_ waste of time," Jellal breezed. "I destroyed the core, so it will never function as an R-System again, but I still own the Tower itself. I was thinking of renting it out as a training ground for guild mages. They're always saving the day, but one thing I've learnt from my time with Fairy Tail is that it's mostly just luck. They have very little experience of actually raiding a villain's lair, with traps and secret doors and creepy décor and overly complicated schemes to foil. Now, I happen to own a suitably sinister building, _and_ my staff already have the matching evil uniforms – all ready to fill that gap in the market. Guild staff training days: there's a fortune to be made, Ultear, I tell you."

"But… you…" she spluttered.

"Or, failing that, Simon suggested I could always go into partnership with Akane Resort. The Tower is only a short distance from the resort by boat, and it would make a great themed hotel for guests who like the occult, especially around Halloween."

Ultear's mouth hung open; her arms flapped wildly, like a stranded fish. "You're going to turn the Tower of Heaven… a device designed to resurrect the legendary Black Mage Zeref… _into a themed hotel?_ That's blasphemy!"

"I prefer the word _entrepreneurship_."

"But what about sacrificing Erza to Zeref?"

"Ah. That. Well, I thought about it, and I realized that I didn't want to give Erza up to anyone, not even Zeref. I'm selfish like that."

"But… you could always find another sacrifice!"

"I _could_ , technically, but destroying the world still means giving up Erza, so… no, sorry. Not happening."

Ultear took several steps backwards across the empty Council chamber, pointing at him in horror. "If you think that I- if you think that the ghost of Zeref is going to stand for this, then you're sorely mistaken!"

"Well, I will admit I was a little worried about repercussions on that front. But, as Erza pointed out, if Zeref's ghost was able to directly influence the real world, he wouldn't have needed me to build a whopping great tower for him, would he? Antagonizing him is a risk I'm prepared to take." Offhandedly, he added, "Plus, I don't recall ever mentioning having met the ghost of Zeref to you."

Ultear swallowed.

"Well, whatever. Fortunately for you, I don't care about that any more. In fact, I'm in such a good mood, now that I've sorted everything out with Erza and have quit the whole world-destruction thing while I'm ahead, that I'm even prepared to offer you a choice. Either you can let this role you've been playing with me on the Council become real, as if the Tower of Heaven never even existed…"

"…Or?"

"Leave." He folded his arms and regarded her coolly. "Go back to whoever it is you're working with and pursue your dreams of ending the world elsewhere. And, since I'm feeling generous, I'll even tell the Council that I don't know where you've gone, or why you've gone there."

Shadows danced in her eyes. The temperature of the room dropped several degrees.

Jellal just shrugged; he had nothing to fear from her. "Since neither of us can turn the other in to the Council without also implicating ourselves, I think that an amicable parting is the best option for us. I don't dislike you, you know. It's been a lot more fun pulling off this scheme with you than it would have been alone. The problem is simply that we're not going in the same direction any more. And I would say that you could come with me, but… I think we both know each other a little too well for that."

She snorted. "And now you're being nice to me. I knew you going to Fairy Tail was a bad idea."

"On the contrary," he assured her. "It was a very good idea. Oh, I hated it there, and very nearly died so many times, but, looking back, I'm really quite glad that you refused to help me back when this all began. It's ironic to think that if you'd been a bit nicer to me, we might have already destroyed the world together. Maybe there's a lesson about how to treat people in there somewhere."

In the subsequent sullen silence, he made to leave, but paused with his hand still resting on the doorframe. "Well, it's up to you. Whichever you choose, I don't think we'll be seeing much of each other from now on. Goodbye, Ultear."

* * *

Jellal made it all of about halfway down the corridor before the wall exploded. Jumping back in the nick of time, he caught a glimpse of sunlight and a flash of fire, and then a shadow burst through the cascading rubble, straightened itself up, and pointed judgementally towards him.

"Found him!" Natsu called. "Get in here, quick!"

Jellal heaved a sigh, slipping his hands into his pockets. "Couldn't you just have used the door, like a normal person?"

"Yeah, Natsu, couldn't we have done?" Lucy echoed, exasperated, as she entered through the hole Natsu had made.

"What, and given him the chance to slip out the back entrance while we were negotiating with the guards?" Natsu retorted defiantly. "No way am I letting him sneak away without saying anything again! This is our reckoning!"

While he had been talking, the others had taken the chance to encircle Jellal: Gray and Juvia were behind him, Gajeel and Mira on either side, and Natsu, Lucy and Levy blocked his way forward. "Oh, my," Jellal remarked, without a trace of sincerity. "I appear to be surrounded. Now, what could possibly drive a bunch of guild mages to assault me in the middle of the Council Headquarters? Masochism, perhaps?"

Natsu ignored the taunt. "Why, exactly, are you not in the guild?"

"Haven't you been counting? My thirty days as a prisoner of your guild are up. The lacrima carrying the surveillance footage your Master was holding over me shattered at midnight last night. There is no reason for me to remain in your guild for a minute longer."

"There are loads of reasons!" Natsu protested.

"Then, by all means, explain them to me," Jellal challenged him. "Go on. This will be entertaining."

"First of all-"

Levy interrupted him. "I went over all this with you just a few days ago," she pointed out sternly. "There's no need for us to repeat ourselves now. You _know_ why we want you to stay, and you also know why you _should_ stay. So, instead, let me just say this: look around you. We all like you, and we consider you to be our friend."

Gajeel gave a cough.

"We all like you," Mira corrected her cheerfully, "Except for Gajeel, who is indifferent to you, and doesn't care if you leave. Equally, he did tell us on the way here that if Juvia and the Master hadn't convinced him to join Fairy Tail despite his misgivings, he would now be out there somewhere, lonely and miserable and probably in prison with Jose, so he wanted to try and convince you to stay here as well." At Gajeel's glower, she amended, "Well, he didn't use those exact words, but the point still stands."

Levy placed her hands on her hips. "After everything we've been through together, are you honestly still going to stand there and say that you don't like us?"

Jellal appeared to mull this over for a minute. "I suppose I don't completely hate you."

"Then-"

"However," he continued, his eyes flashing. "That is not enough to make me want to stay in your guild. Over the past thirty days, I have been blackmailed and forced to participate in inane events with you; I have accompanied you on stupid outings, have had my expert opinions repeatedly overruled with disastrous consequences, risked my life multiple times without a word of thanks, was almost drowned – _twice_ – and I have been repeatedly mislabelled as a pervert throughout my stay. At the Council, by contrast, I have excellent financial and job security, people don't bother me, there's a top-notch security service to ensure my safety night and day, and no one has _ever_ made me wear a maid outfit."

"Yes," Natsu agreed steadily. "But just think how bored you'll be going back to all that."

"I…"

Juvia spoke up from the back. "Are you really okay with just leaving Erza like that?"

"Who cares about jobs or maid outfits?" Gray added bluntly. "If you want to be with her, then be with her. Nothing's stopping you."

"You can't honestly be saying that you like the Magic Council more than you like Erza," offered Lucy. "I don't think that's physically possible."

"No," Jellal said, and he shrugged. "But sometimes it's just how things have to be. I'm sure I'll see her occasionally." And with that, he brushed past the people in his way and carried on down the corridor.

They all stared after him in despair – all except Natsu, who caught up easily and threw himself in front of Jellal, as if he intended to stop him from walking away through force if necessary.

Yet to everyone's surprise – Jellal's especially – Natsu didn't start a fight. Instead, he just grinned, and an evil spark ignited in his eyes. "Well then, Mister Councillor, you leave us with no choice. If you quit the guild like this, Erza's going to be upset that she can't see you, and it'll be up to us, as her friends, to do something about that."

He took a step back and pointed victoriously at Jellal. "If the only way that Erza can see you from now on is when she's in Era apologizing to the Council for everything Fairy Tail has done, I can guarantee that we will be going out of our way to cause as much trouble as possible for the Council from here on out!"

Jellal stared at him in astonishment. Lucy had her head in her hands. Gray and Juvia exchanged looks of despair.

"Did he just…?" Levy asked.

"Yeah, I think he did," Mira replied, with an exasperated smile.

Oblivious to the atmosphere, Natsu grinned at Jellal. "That seat on the Council isn't looking quite so appealing now, huh?"

Jellal did not seem impressed. "This is blackmail."

"Ah, you're much quicker on the uptake the second time round, I see. So you _can_ learn."

"But apparently _you_ can't," Lucy muttered, under her breath. "It's not as though trying to blackmail a member of the Magic Council was what got us into this mess in the first place…"

But they all knew that that wasn't quite right. If not for the success of their first blackmailing plan, they would have been here trying to convince Jellal not to close down their guild, rather than petitioning him to become a full-time member. From that point of view, Makarov's scheme had worked perfectly.

And to their amazement, rather than calling for the guards to remove the guild mages from the building, Jellal just heaved a sigh. "Oh, fine. I'll come back with you."

"What, really?" Natsu squeaked.

"Yes, really. I give up. Let's go back to the guild."

As Natsu jumped into the air in celebration, Jellal began to walk towards the hole in the wall. Amazed, Levy asked, "What, just like that?"

"Well," Jellal replied, with a mildness that couldn't possibly have been further from his earlier attitude, "We should probably be long gone before anyone notices the damage Natsu has done to the building."

"Good plan," Lucy conceded, hurrying after him.

Levy remained unconvinced. "But… don't you need to go and hand in your resignation to the Council, or something?"

"Oh, I already did that," he told her easily.

"You… already did that?"

"Of course. Why did you think I came back here this morning? I had to tell them I was quitting, and get my personal affairs in order."

Natsu's victory dance cut off halfway through. "…Hang on a minute. Are you saying that you always intended to stay on in our guild?"

"That's right. I cleared everything with Makarov first thing this morning." Jellal pulled his hands out of his pockets, waving the back of his left hand and its deep blue Fairy Tail mark in the air. At Natsu's stunned expression, he laughed out loud. "Of course I'm staying with Erza. There is literally no reason for me to return to the Council any more."

"But… but…"

"Why didn't you just say that from the start?" Gray demanded.

"Because it was amusing, watching you all try and talk me into staying. You're very sweet."

While the boys spluttered in outrage, Lucy asked, "Hold on, though. Why didn't Erza just tell us this at the guildhall this morning? Unless… unless you two were in it together…"

Jellal grinned at her. "Erza and I had a bet on. She bet that you would come after me and try to change my mind, and I bet that you would not."

"You bet _against_ us?" Levy demanded, even more outraged by that than by the fact that they had been deceived.

"Of course I did," he smiled. "That way, whether you came after me or not, I would still win, wouldn't I?"

She considered this for a moment. "You're a jerk."

"What can I say?" he agreed. "Old habits die hard."

Through the breach in the wall he could see a figure standing out in the road: Erza, one hand raised in greeting. He couldn't help smiling when he saw her, and she smiled back, as bright and beautiful as ever. "Are you ready to go?" she called.

It was then that they heard footsteps echoing down the corridor – footsteps that sounded far too at home in this pretentious old building to belong to any of the guild mages. In fact, it was a tread that Jellal was very familiar with, but before he could say anything, the Chairman of the Magic Council rounded the corner – and stopped in his tracks.

"What happened here?" he demanded of the hole in the wall, aghast.

"Oh, sorry about that," said Jellal. "My guild came to pick me up."

If the blotchy and decidedly unamused shade of purple that the Chairman's face was turning was any indication, he did not see the funny side. "FAIRY TAIL-!" he bellowed.

Natsu gulped. "Oops…"

"Let me guess," Jellal sighed. "This is the part where we run away."

"Better get used to it," Lucy offered glumly.

And then they were running, all of them, out of the Council Headquarters and down the road; mages who had never run from an opponent in living memory but to whom fleeing from the irked law enforcement was second nature. Somewhere in the chaos of it, Erza's hand found his, and they were running together, towards their guild and their freedom and the future they had chosen for themselves. Despite everything, Jellal found himself laughing with sheer joy.

No, it wasn't quite a glorious into-the-sunset ending, but he had to agree, it was certainly an appropriate way to begin his new life with Erza as a Fairy Tail mage.

* * *

 _ **A/N:** And we're done! Now, time for me to ramble self-indulgently for a bit. When I started to write this story, there were three conditions that I felt needed to be met in order to make a pre-Tower of Heaven arc Jellal/Erza relationship work:_

 _The first was that Erza had to develop feelings for 'Siegrain' before obtaining any sort of proof that he was Jellal. In other words, she couldn't fall for him because he was her Jellal, but in spite of the fact that he wasn't. It's important because the Jellal of this era doesn't have all that much in common with the boy she used to love. And even though, as the story progresses, he starts to act more like he did back then, there's no discontinuous change in his personality like there is in canon. The Jellal in this timeline will always be a little more arrogant, a little more manipulative, and a lot more self-assured than in canon. Thus, it had to be the man in front of her whom Erza fell in love with, and not some ghost from the past who no longer exists._

 _The second was that Jellal had to reach a point where he would feasibly have chosen to stay in Fairy Tail even if Erza died. Therefore, he had to develop strong relationships with characters who weren't Erza too. While romance stories which focus exclusively on the main couple *can* work, it wouldn't produce a healthy and believable relationship in this situation. Erza's friends and guild are a huge part of her life, and Jellal needs to be able to appreciate that, which he does here through forming similar bonds of his own. Besides, to stay with Erza, Jellal has to give up every single thing that he is. He can do this precisely because he's gaining a whole new life in return - new friends, new guild, new aspirations, and new reasons to live, as well as Erza._

 _The third was that Jellal had to realize that Erza didn't belong to him, and that was the hardest of all. At the start, his feelings towards her were purely possessive - she is his sacrifice - and when they started to become a little more romantic, that naturally evolved into a very possessive form of love. The belief that Erza belonged to him and him alone became the last thing tying him to the past, persisting long after he had become unsure if he really wanted to active the Tower of Heaven. Only when he realized that she would rather die and save her guild than live and be with him was he forced to accept that he had no power over her, and they finally became able to stand side by side as equals._

 _That's been my take on it, anyway. If nothing else, I hope I've managed to make this slightly unorthodox version of their relationship a believable one!_

 _If anyone's curious as to what Jellal might look like in that maid outfit, check out this wonderful sketch by the talented (and fearless) Singular Red (crrowe on tumblr) at_ oi68 tinypic com (/) 1zqzfol jpg - _replace the spaces with dots and remove the parentheses. (This site can be a bit fussy about links, and I don't know if that applies within chapters or not, but it should show up this way at least)._

 _Finally, I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who has reviewed, followed or favourited this story over the course of its run. Your support means so much to me. Thank you for giving this silly story a chance, and for sticking with me until the end! ~CS_


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